This Can't Be Love
by musical1
Summary: Ginny Weasley thought she'd found the love of her life in the most unlikely guy. So what happens when realizes she passed over someone even better?
1. Confessions

So that was it. I'd just walk in and tell them. And then any second it'd be over. I ran a hand through my hair, took a deep breath, said the password, and walked in. as could be expected, Harry and Ron were deep in thought, playing wizard chess, and Hermione was buried in some muggle science magazine. As Hermione was my best friend and most likely to not kill me on the spot, I decided to take my chances with her first. True, she and Ron and Harry were still as close as ever, but I'd managed to infiltrate their group by being the "gal-pal" Hermione's been lacking for, well, ever.

Somewhere in the back of my brain I knew this couldn't be as hard as I was making it. So why was I thinking I'd rather take five Potions O.W.L.s than do this?

I took a deep breath and started over to Hermione when I heard a voice call to me.

"Yo red!" Damn. Jack Bentley was in my year – handsome, rich, very full of himself, and sleazy. I couldn't recall a Gryffindor fifth year girl he hadn't dated at some point. Except, well, me, which would explain his sudden solicitation of my attention.

"What do you want Jack?" I flipped around and gave him an evil glare.

"My my, aren't we feisty today. I guess its that famous redhead temper. Hotheads, they say. But hot covers other things about you too." He looked me up and down and I felt nauseous.

"Jack, I will smack you." More like beat him over the head with my History of Magic textbook.

"Hey, I just wanted to see who you're going on the weekend Hogsmeade trip with."

"Don't know yet. Not you though. Listen, I have to have a very important conversation with Hermione now, so would you kindly get out of my way?"

"Alright, but don't think you'll get away that easy babe." I took a deep breath and counted to five, rather than just running over to kill him for calling me "babe." I continued walking over to Hermione, wringing my hands and going over what I was trying to say. Gingerly I sat down next to her.

"Hey 'Mione, whatcha reading?"

"Gene splicing therapy. I really have no idea what a lot of it means but it seems quite fascinating." She continued to talk about gene slicing therapy or whatever for another five minutes, giving me time to get my hands to stop shaking before I started to talk. Finally I had to interrupt her, because it was becoming clear she wasn't going to stop talking unless I made her.

"Listen 'Mione while that sounds fascinating I have something to tell you. It's sort of important. And you have to promise you won't get mad. Or tell Ron. Or my mum. At least not yet."

"Oh my God. You're pregnant. Ginny how, when, who?" Hermione started to freak out, which, oddly enough, made me laugh.

"No, no, nothing like that. Um…"

"Gin! Spit it out!" It was now or never. Time to sink or swim. Or in my case, sink or run for my life.

"I'mdatingDracoMalfoy." I started getting up immediately, preparing to sprint out.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing, if you didn't hear me than I'll just be on my way…" I started backing out, grabbing my scarf from off the floor nearby the couch.

"Oh no, sit your ass back down here. I heard you, I'm just not sure I believe you entirely." Crap. I walked back over, trying to act like I was mature and confident. Obviously, I was so, so not, but I could pretend, couldn't I?

"Ginny, how? WHY?" This was the part I knew was inevitable but was dreading nonetheless.

"Mione, you don't know him the way I do. He's… he's got a really soft side – a nice, charming, kind, wonderful side. He…" I trailed off. Even though I saw all of Malfoy's well-concealed good qualities I knew I couldn't illustrate them for Hermione no matter how many adjectives I used.

"How'd you meet… in such a way?"

"It was a Hogsmeade weekend. I had gone off to do some Christmas shopping by myself and then I'd slipped on a patch of ice. All my stuff flew all over the place, I twisted my ankle, and got soaked in slush. He was the only person nearby, and rather than laugh at me like I'd expected he helped me out. We walked around for a little- well, after he found Madame Pomfrey so we could fix my ankle- and we got to talking. At first it was really weird, like I felt really defensive the whole time. But then finally we both relaxed a little bit and he told me towards the end that he'd liked me for a while. Which was also weird, but I told him I had to think about it for a little while longer, but eventually we realized we had a mutual attraction type thing going on. So we started dating and… here I am hoping you don't kill me." Hermione stayed silent for a long time. Finally she spoke.

"I'm not ok with him. But if it's really what you want and he's not… Malfoy… around you, than I guess I can learn to deal." I almost fainted I was so relieved. I jumped on Hermione and hugged her.

"Thank you!!! Don't tell anyone about it just yet though, ok?"

"No problem. So you and Draco Malfoy, huh?" talk about bad timing. It was at precisely that moment Ron chose to walk up.

"Who and Draco Malfoy?" He said slowly. Damn. This conversation just got a whole lot more difficult.


	2. Brotherly Love… Of Sorts

I couldn't take it. Not right now. Ron would kill me, that much was certain. So I did the only mature, intelligent thing I could think of. Which, in this case, was to run for my life. I'd made it halfway to the library when I flew straight into someone.

"Easy there, Gin, wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." Instantly I relaxed. He helped me up, wrapping me in his arms.

"You're right. I wouldn't want to hurt myself, that would take all the fun out of it for Ron." Instantly the look in his eyes changed.

"You told him?"

"Not exactly. I told Hermione. Ron sort of, overheard." As I was explaining this to him we heard a "Ginny!" from a voice that sounded distinctly like Ron's coming from down the hall.

"Listen, Draco we sort of need to um, run. Quickly. Now." We ran down the hallway until we found a coat closet into which we sort of hurled ourselves.

"So what exactly happened?" He whispered, pulling me onto his lap.

"I was explaining to Hermione about us because, you know, they'd have to know sometime. So she said she wouldn't tell Ron, only he managed to walk over during the very last part of our conversation and overhear. At which point I tore off sprinting out of the common room." If I weren't afraid my brother was going to kill me I would have exploded in giggles by now.

"Tell me why the Gryffindors have to know again?" While I chalked it up to old habits dying hard, this statement still grated on my nerves.

"Do not press me on this issue right now, it's not important at the moment in the first place, and you should have figured it out already in the second." My response was harsher than I'd intended, but I didn't really think it through before talking to him.

"Feisty, aren't we?" He drawled, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Why whatever do you mean?" I replied, batting my eyelashes and feigning innocence. We both laughed for a minute before he pulled me closer to him to kiss him.

It was a good two or three minutes before I noticed anything go on outside, to put it mildly. Fortunately I did, however, as it was at precisely such a time that I heard Ron's voice outside. I pulled away from Draco, figuring that having Ron open the closet to our little scene might be too much for him to handle. Granted, his going into a temporary coma seemed favorable to whatever he had planned, but I decided to take the high road.

"Stay here," I said quietly, stepping out of the closet and putting on my most winning smile.

"Ron! Long time no see!" I said brightly, keeping my distance from my brother, who was being restrained by Harry and Hermione. Shit. Well that didn't bode well for my conversation. I took a deep breath and carefully explained the whole situation with Draco, how we were, yes, perfectly happy and had been for a month now, and that Ron had no reason to be angry and insane because nothing was going wrong. Sadly, that didn't do much to appease him.

"What were you thinking? Honestly! What… you… him… I… we…"

"Oh for God's sake Ron, form some actual words!" Ron's entire face was bright red and it was clear he was loosing the ability to speak rationally, so he just stalked off, which I can't say that I'm all that disappointed he did. Misreading my expression, however, Hermione came over to my side after a futile attempt to go after Ron and hugged me.

"Don't worry sweetie, he'll come around. Just give him time," she cooed as Harry read my face correctly and began to snicker.

"Mione, that's really great that you're supportive and all, but I really don't mind. I frankly don't care what Ron thinks of my relationships. It's not like we're getting married, so if he doesn't want to deal with it he won't have to." I replied frankly. At this point Harry chimed in.

"True, but Gin, you're going to have to put up with any snide comments and whatnot around him when we're all in a group."

"Whatever," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Just keep him from killing me, and we'll all be fine," I joked.

"Alright. We'll leave you be then…" said Harry suggestively.

"God, Harry!" said Hermione, trying to be indignant but failing miserably. After we all got over our giggles I bid them farewell and rejoined Draco in the closet.

"So what happened? I heard no screaming, no denouncing, no death… It sounds like Christmas in Gryffindor land," he remarked with his trademark sarcasm. Fortunately for him, he caught my expression and apologized. Very well, I might add…

"But really," he said, pulling away from me slightly a few minutes later. "What actually happened?"

"Let's just say you should be glad I only have one brother at Hogwarts now…"


	3. A Goodbye Train Scene

Alright, I know! It's been a long time! But I promise regular updates from here on out!

While it was shocking, Ron had mostly gotten over mine and Draco's relationship by the time we were going home for the holidays. Well, that is to say that by mostly I mean he simply refused to acknowledge its existence and went on as if he'd never learned the information. I suppose that's the best I can expect from him, given that I always knew I was the more mature one even if I am younger. Don't get me wrong, I of course love my brother, but Ron is… well hardheaded, to say the least.

The only tight spot was when we were all boarding the trains to return home. As we were getting on Draco came over to kiss me goodbye. Very sweet, really, but a little more of a show than I had intended.

"Draco, we can't do this here," I mumbled quietly, though rather enjoying being in the limelight for the moment.

"You're the one that wanted things to be made more public," he said, teasing me.

"Oh quiet you!"

"Fine, I'll do things the sweet, modest way." He smirked slightly, but his smirk turned into a real smile and he kissed me on the forehead as he hugged me goodbye. "Bye Gin. Write me, alright?" He said softly as he walked away, causing me of course to turn into a total girl and squeal very quietly to myself. I turned around, thinking first to walk over to where Ron, Hermione, and Harry were clustered, but seeing that Ron's face was redder than his hair and Harry and Hermione were both clearly trying to calm him down, I reconsidered that idea. Stopping, I scanned the platform for my friends in my year, but before I could find them I was accosted by Pansy Parkinson.

"Weasley!" Her mouse brown hair, I noted, now had blonde highlights running through it and was hanging in ringlets around her pug face. She was also wearing a short jean skirt and a bulky pink sweater under her Hogwarts robes, and the look did nothing for her.

"What do you want, Parkinson?" I drawled. It was a gift I'd picked up from Draco. She was clearly irate, so I decided that the best thing to do would be to irritate her more by keeping my cool.

"What does someone gorgeous, cultured, rich, and a Slytherin like Draco see in a little fifth year common Gryffindor slut like you?" She shrieked. That pissed me off. So much for playing it cool.

"Fuck you Pansy. Just because the two of you had a crash-and-burn relationship that sucked because you're a clingy, annoying, superficial bitch doesn't mean you have to take it out on me. Oh, and let's not even touch the issue of slutty" I replied.

"Whatever. He'll move on in time. He always does," she said, and I heard a touch of something like pity or remorse in her voice. This, however, ended as quickly as it had started. "Slumming it seems to be the latest in his phases, anyway." She attempted to smirk nastily, which resulted in her contorting her face oddly before walking away.

Blowing off whatever it was she'd just told me, I made my way over to Lia Atrastradero, my best friend in my year.

"God she's obnoxious." I remarked, rolling my eyes.

"This, my friend, is what happens when you date the guy who's first on the list of Hogwarts' ten hottest." She replied simply.

"There's a list? Since when?" I replied. Leave it to me to get out of the loop on these things.

"Since Katie Manning wrote it several weeks ago and distributed it through all the fifth year girls. It has pictures too." Katie Manning was also in our year. She was a petite blonde Slytherin, and while she had long blonde hair that curled loosely at the ends and bright blue eyes, she was far less angelic as she seemed. With the exception, maybe, of my boyfriend she seemed to have been with all of the Slytherin guys fifth year and up. It was no secret that, since terminating her last relationship, she'd been hopelessly fixated on Draco, and therefore no fan of mine. This is why it now made sense that everyone but me would have this "list" and that Draco topped it.

"Whatever. Shall we go?"

"You mean to tell me you aren't even going to ask about the rest of the list?" Lia asked disbelievingly.

"I don't really care, as I'm not a great fan of Katie Manning," I explained, as we started boarding the train.

"Fine then. So my insane aunt Maria is staying with us over the holidays… you'd think that she could just stay in Spain, but no, clearly she has to come visit us. I'm telling you she's completely mad." Lia and I talked most of the way to Kings Cross, but even as we talked there was something I still couldn't get out of my head. Try as I might to ignore it, Pansy's saying, "He'll move on. He always does," was resonating in my head. But she's a total dimwit. So she couldn't be right… could she?


	4. And So It Begins…

The house was relatively quiet for the first three days of vacation. By relatively, I mean that there were only four Weasleys and two guests, totaling only six people in our house. Thursday of the week we'd gotten home, however, that all steadily started to change. I'd been woken up at around 9 after Hermione informed me that Mum had set breakfast for 9:15 and whoever was awake would eat, and whoever was not would not. Trudging down the stairs, I had to refocus my eyes to accommodate two more faces added to those of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Huh?" I said, confused at this addition of new faces so early in the morning.

"Nice to see you too," remarked Fred and George simultaneously. My eighteen-year-old twin brothers grinned obnoxiously.

"Haha, very funny you lot. I'm awake now, I'm know I'm not crazy." I made my way over to the table, taking a place between the two of them.

"You do, but do we?" Remarked George, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and giving me a hug.

"You're lucky you're my brothers sometimes, you know that?" I shot back, laughing as I said it. We got to talking about life at Hogwarts after the Umbridge fiasco at the twins' request, and about twenty or so minutes in mum placed a large plate of pancakes on the table, followed shortly by fruit, bacon, potatoes, and scrambled eggs. Leave it to Mum to cook enough food for twenty with only eight in the house. We ate breakfast, and then proceeded to move into the living room to enjoy hot chocolate by the fire – Mum's suggestion, as she gets very excited about family bonding type things during the holiday season. Once she'd seen to it that we were all settled, she made her way out to wash more sheets to prepare more rooms, noting none too subtly on her way out that I might do well to look at a mirror. Hermione passed me one that was hanging on the wall not far from where she was sitting, and I noticed that my mother had something of a point. My gray, ratty sweatshirt starkly contrasted to my blue, yellow, and green plaid pajama pants, and my red hair sat attractively on my head in a messy bun with pieces falling out.

"That is, I must admit, one of your better looks," teased Harry.

"I tend to agree – you should see her some _other_ mornings," added Ron, snickering slightly.

"Oh shut up you," I remarked. "You're no Sleeping Beauty either, dear brother."

"That one I can attest to," said Harry. "Hair sticking up all over the place, lovely pajamas, and my personal favorite – the old woman slippers." Harry, Hermione, Fred, George and I all doubled over laughing as Ron turned very red, but tried to not laugh himself.

"Fred and George, however, that's like twin disasters," he said, passing along the accusations. "George especially, given that he has a charming pair of pink pajama pants," shot Ron, causing us all to laugh again.

"Hey, they used to be white! And Harry's stayed here before, we should point some fingers at him too!" Said George in his own defense.

" Yeah, but his hair's always like that, it can't be helped," said Hermione, grinning slightly.

"Hey!"

"Now Harry, some of us happen to find the bed head look sexy," I said suggestively, much to the dismay of most around us. After pausing for a moment, I continued, "I don't happen to be one, but you know…" Laughing started again, and Harry threw a pillow at me.

"Well I'm glad you think so, Ginny, because you know my ultimate fantasy is a girl looking exactly like you do now," he said, raising his eyebrows. This, I had to admit, was bold, with three of my brothers sitting here.

"Really… well then I'll have to take less time on my appearance," I replied. Almost exactly at the same time, we both said, "Or not!" After another ten minutes, Fred and George both excused themselves, claiming they had to work. This clearly wasn't true, but we couldn't figure out what it was they were actually planning, so no one really gave it much notice.

"We should do something tonight," remarked Hermione.

"We can't, the rest of the family is due to arrive. At least, I think they are," replied Ron.

"Percy and Penelope come in tonight, but not until about ten. Bill and Clarisse come tomorrow at around noon, and Charlie and Katherine are arriving tomorrow slightly before dinner." Hermione rattled off this information in her typical 'I've-memorized-the-textbook" fashion, and Ron and I both gaped at her.

"How do you know this when we don't?" I asked her.

"I got up early this morning to help your mum with breakfast. You all know I'm an early riser, so I said I would do it every morning, and so she gave me a schedule of arrivals this week." She replied matter-of-factly. Leave it to Hermione to be on top of everything, even with somebody else's family. "So, where does this leave us on doing something tonight?" asked Hermione.

"I'm game. Where would we go though?" said Harry.

"That's sort of what I was wondering. But I'm not saying no," added Ron.

"Truthfully? I really have no idea," said Hermione, her enthusiasm seeming to wane.

"Dancing! We could go dancing," I said suddenly. I was hit by three incredulous stares before Hermione, Ron, and Harry all burst into laughter. Betrayed by my damn nature as a redhead, I felt my cheeks flush pink.

"Ok so it's stupid. But I thought it would be fun… besides Lea and some of my other friends in my year went and said the place is very cool. It'd be the perfect, like, friendly, unwinding thing!" I suggested. I looked pointedly at my two friends and brother, until I got two nods of approval from Hermione and Harry. Ron, however, still looked skeptical.

"Please?" I put on my best 'I'm-your-baby-sister' face.

"Fine. But _you_ have to ask Mum." I snorted with laughter.

"Not an issue." I did go ask her permission, and after twenty minutes of convincing, she agreed to let us go.

Quite a while later, after four games of Wizards' Chess, two of Exploding Snap, an impromptu winter Quidditch match (during which Hermione "volunteered" to make hot chocolate rather than play), an hour and a half of reading or other such lounging activities and a small nap (probably only me, though), we were starting to get ready to go.

Hermione and I were in my room, discussing hair and makeup and other such girlie things – Harry and Ron had no idea what could possibly take us a whole half hour longer than they needed. It was actually rather comical.

"So, 'Mione, if I may ask this prying question, what's going on between you and my brother?" I raised my eyebrows suggestively as I swiped powder around my face. She put down her eyeliner pencil to shoot me an evil look.

"Ah. So I take it this means you haven't realized that your relationship is _anything_ but entirely platonic?" I continued, putting powder away and searching through my makeup case for eyeliner. Another evil look.

"What about you and Harry?" She challenged.

"Me and Draco. Couple. Any of this ringing a bell?"

"True, true, but there was something more than basic sarcastic flirtation going on down there."

"Yeah right," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Ok then. But I guess this means that '_you haven't realized that your relationship is anything but entirely platonic,'_" she teased.

"There's nothing between us!" We finished up our getting ready talking about other things, but for the second time that week, someone's statement stuck with me. But it was impossible for there to be anything between Harry and I! Firstly, I was completely, perfectly happy with Draco. Secondly, I was completely over Harry. My third serious boyfriend in the last two years surely could attest to that.

Surely. And yes, I had to admit it, Harry was a great guy – he was smart, charming, funny, a good listener, a good friend, and not at all hard on the eyes. But he wasn't my type.

Anymore.

I was happy with my boyfriend. Perfectly, entirely happy with him. Perfectly!

Which is why it made _perfect_ sense that I was now trying to convince myself of that fact.


	5. The Diamond Lounge

**Author's Note:** Odd, as I usually don't write these. Be that as it may, if you are reading this fic I ask you pretty please to review! Even if you didn't like it, negative feedback gives me something to work with. So there, you have your assignment. Read **and** review!

Fifteen more minutes passed, and then Hermione and I were dressed and ready to rendezvous with the guys downstairs. Hermione had surprised me – she'd dressed in a pair of low-rise jeans, paired with a turquoise halter-top with lace on either side that tied with a shimmery ribbon. Her eyes were lined in black and dusted lightly with glitter the same color as her top. A swipe of lipgloss and a low messy-but-stylish bun completed her look. She did, however, have to borrow shoes from me – despite that they're incredibly impractical and I am well aware that I'll almost never have the opportunity to wear them at school, I have a growing collection of high heels. Given this, Hermione borrowed a pair that matched her shirt.

"'Mione, I'm surprised. I never knew you could dress… so up yet down! You look great." She gave me a look.

"Just because I don't, doesn't mean I don't know how, my friend. You look fabulous as well, by the way." I surveyed my own appearance in the mirror – I had to admit, I didn't look half bad. I wore a short black skirt that was straight over my hips and flared out as it got lower, which was adorned with a black satin ribbon just above where the skirt got looser. I'd paired it with a one-shouldered, multicolored top that – as so many brightly colored clothes did – complemented, rather than clashed with my auburn hair. I'd let it hang loose, only using a simple beauty spell to make it flip out at the ends. Lastly, I'd chosen a pair of silver, heel-less shoes in the style of ballet shoes, as they'd be much more comfortable when I was sure I'd be on my feet for several more hours. A reddish-gold lipgloss and black eyeliner composed my entire makeup choice; once both of us had grabbed coats and bags we headed down to meet with Harry and Ron.

I must say, I was impressed by both boys' appearances. Though they hadn't dressed up to quite the extent Hermione and I had, they'd cleaned up well, and both looked good. As Ron's eyes bugged out at Hermione, Harry and I shared a look, willing ourselves not to laugh hysterically. Bidding Mum farewell, the four of us flooed to Diagon Alley, where we walked for about five minutes before finding The Diamond Lounge, the place, so I'd been told, that was sweeping the English wizarding community as the top nightspot for the under-thirty set. This, I figured, was stretching the truth, but Lia and several more of my friends _had_ raved about the place, so I had decent expectations.

Walking in the door, I took in the highly polished black dance floor, which stood out against the bright sapphire blue of the walls. Towards the back of the main room was a bar, also black and circled by blue stools with black cushions. The surrounding fixtures were done in complimentary colors, creating a very sleek, modernized look. Off of the dance floor was a true lounge area, raised slightly on a platform and surrounded halfway by white curtains that remained mostly open. There, arrangements of chairs and tables were artfully arranged so that varying styles and colors created a pattern on when one looked on from a distance. Even from the décor, I was impressed with the place.

Once we'd gotten a table, Hermione and I decided to go dance – Ron and Harry claimed they weren't quite confident enough, but I had a safe bet that they were actually discussing when it was Ron should admit that he really was madly in love with Hermione. After about a half hour's time, both of us were ready for a break, and so headed over to our table. Though Harry greeted us normally, Ron looked incredibly nauseous, leading me to believe my suspicions about their earlier conversation were right.

"So, have you boys been having fun being wallflowers?" Teased Hermione good-naturedly.

"Actually, I'm about ready to go out," responded Harry slowly, giving Ron a sideways look. As Ron flushed angrily, I tried my hardest not to laugh, but finally I gave in to my impulses.

"Consider it my right as youngest sibling," I said breezily, responding to the look of extreme irritation Ron was shooting me. Choosing to ignore me and talk with Hermione, he commented, "See, this is what you get for befriending my little sister." She laughed, making Ron ease up a little bit. Sensing the upcoming moment, I asked Harry if he'd come dance with me, to give them some _private_ time.

"So how'd you get him to do it?" I asked while dancing, yelling slightly to be heard above the music.

"Do what?" replied Harry, in a manner I can only describe as coy.

"Give up, Potter, we both know. How on earth did you convince Ron to admit he is head over heels for Hermione?"

"Elementary, my dear Ginny," he said, putting on a wry face and stilted accent. I looked at him quizzically.

"I explained that, while it's evident now that she reciprocates his feelings she won't wait for him to get a spine forever," he said simply. I raised my eyebrows in an expression of agreement, and then suddenly realized how comical this whole exchange must look – two people dancing and discussing their friends' love lives at the same time; I couldn't suppress a laugh, and it only grew when Harry gave me a look of utter confusion.

"Nevermind," I said, and the two of us danced without talking for a while. We must have been on the floor for about a half hour before Ron and Hermione joined us. To avoid wounding my brother's fragile ego, I spent about fifteen more minutes pretending I had no idea what just happened before claiming I had to use the rest room as an excuse to ask Hermione what had went on.

To my (slight) annoyance, she played dumb.

"We just had a conversation. Between friends. Who are nothing more than friends." I squealed in delight. This is absolutely _not_ something I ordinarily do, but I couldn't help it this time.

"Did he ask you out?"

"Maybe," she said, twisting a stray piece of hair around her finger.

"Bloody hell he did didn't he! Oh this is so exciting!" I jumped up and down, and finally Hermione loosened up enough to jump up and down with me. As excited girls tend to do, we continued our jumping and squealing routine for a few minutes more before returning to the dance floor. Ron, having clearly learned to use his brain while we were gone, glared at me in a way that plainly said "Say anything and I'll kill you."

"Don't worry, Ickle-Ronniekins, I won't tell anybody. Yet…" Despite Hermione's flushing pink, we all burst into laughter. All, that is, except Ron.

A few minutes later, I decided to go get a drink. Grabbing a few coins from my purse, I made my way through the crowd to the bar, where I perched on a stool as I waited for something called "The Diamond Lounge Sparkler" – peach juice, ginger-ale, and ice drink was about the only thing I could find that didn't have Firewhisky or something in it, so I ordered without much concern for what it was going to taste like. Once about five minutes had passed, I began not-so-subtly sending signs of my impatience. It should so _not_ have taken that long to make a drink that simple. At last the clear pink stemmed glass was set in front of me, and I placed the ten knuts it had cost on the bar, ready to head back for our table, where my three friends were now seated.

I'd made it nearly all the way there when I noticed another familiar face – that of my boyfriend, much to my surprise. He looked incredibly hot dressed in a black dress shirt left unbuttoned over a black tank top, both paired with black jeans. I began making my way over to him, but once I was about ten feet away I saw _another_ familiar face – that of Katie Manning. She was dressed in a very short, very tight, red dress adorned with sequins. Initially, this didn't bother me. It could very well be coincidence that they were both here, and I knew quite well how she viewed Draco. Just for a minute, I watched them both to make sure she didn't try to pull anything. Nothing went on, just as I'd assumed, so I kept walking. But in those ten seconds, I saw her grab his shirt collar, seductively pulling him towards her and kissing him. It took mere seconds, but Draco then began kissing her back. I froze to the spot, unable to move and yet desperately wanting to. Once they'd finished their miniature snogging session, they started to dance together in a way that doesn't leave a whole lot to the imagination.

Finally I wrenched myself away from the scene, starting to head very quickly back to our table when I felt somebody tap me on the shoulder. To my incredible surprise, I turned around to a very recognizable face.

"What do you want?" I yelled, unable to keep myself under control.

"I just wanted to come say hi, I didn't know you were here." He played it cool, maintaining this aloof, sophisticated aura. It made me want to burst into tears on the spot – it was so endearing, and yet it was the very thing that had made me into the fool who believed she'd stopped Draco Malfoy from his love 'em and leave 'em ways.

"Don't! Don't stand there and talk to me that way! Do you really think I missed your display with Katie?"

"You… I…" he suddenly got very uncomfortable.

"You what? Weren't thinking? CLEARLY!" I screamed, turning on my heel and starting to run away.

"It was a mistake! It wasn't a big deal! It meant nothing to me, really!" He yelled after me, but as he finished we both knew it was an empty apology and its only real purpose was to stop me going completely ballistic. He didn't care, and this probably _wasn't_ the beginning of his interactions with Katie. God dammit! Pansy had been right, and I'd been too much of a prick to listen to her. I reached our table in a fury, setting down my drink and grabbing my coat and purse in one motion. I didn't bother to say anything; I think my silence said enough.

I flooed home from The Leaky Cauldron and immediately locked myself in my room. I heard my friends and brothers knock on my door, but I was in no state to open it. Some mix of fury, hatred, betrayal, and sadness boiled within me, and I had to figure it out for myself before explaining it to anybody else.


	6. Hell Hath No Fury

**Disclaimer:** Hey, let's just do one for kicks, shall we?

**Author's Note**: To begin, thanks to everyone who reviewed! Hope to see more in the future… ;-). So in this chapter you're going to see a segue start to happen to Ginny-Harry. It won't be immediate, but it's coming, I promise! Keep reading and reviewing!

**Review Responses:**

_WickedHarryPotterFan_ – The whole plot whole thing was that when I was reading it, I had a bit of trouble following the plot from chapter to chapter, but all in all I still liked it. Thanks for reviewing mine!

_Nessie8_ – Ah! Actually, I recently pulled Twist of Fate to do a massive rewrite/edit, which is why you couldn't find it! But I'm glad you were interested! I agree with you in most respects that Harry wouldn't take it all that well to find out his best friend's sister was dating Draco Malfoy, but if he really seemed to have good enough intentions I can buy Harry grudgingly believing it. So… willing suspension of disbelief, I guess. Haha. Also Harry has to not hate her in order for something between him and Ginny to develop later… which is coming, I promise!

_Carmel March_ – Wow! I made your favorites, how exciting! Yep, Draco blew his good guy cover. Which is too bad, I was starting to like him… haha, but he's not done in this story _just_ yet ;-). But Ginny's got good things coming to her in the near future!

Zeldagrl436 – Oh I know! I have to confess to actually liking Draco, but he has to be mean and horrible now. 

Having gotten in late the night before and fallen asleep even later, I didn't wake up the morning after the whole club thing until about quarter to eleven, at which point there were _four_ notes slid beneath my door. Getting out of bed, I collected the clothes I'd thrown carelessly on the floor the night before, folding the shirt, hanging the skirt, and returning my shoes to their box. Hermione must have come in even later than I did and gotten up earlier, because her bed was made, her clothes neatly stacked on top of her trunk, and the shoes placed beside it. I smoothed out the covers on my bed, and then finally grabbed the bits of parchment that adorned the floor in front of my door.

_Ginny – What happened? You took off so fast and came up and slammed your door! We came after you shortly after, but you were already asleep by then I guess. We're eating breakfast (ten o'clock) and then Harry and Ron are going with the twins to the shop today. Percy and Penelope are here, by the way. See you later. – Mione_

Suddenly memories of Draco and Katie, The Diamond Lounge, and my tearing out of the club like a mad woman flooded my brain. 'I'll explain all that later,' I thought to myself, before moving on to the next note. Given that it had a spot of pancake syrup on it, I assumed this one was Ron's.

Oy, Ginny! It's nearly ten thirty and you haven't woken up yet. What exactly happened last night anyway? By the way, Percy is pulling this pretentious act about how he's been home for nearly eighteen hours or something and you haven't seen him yet. And beware, he got promoted… and I think he and Penelope are engaged, but he hasn't said anything yet.

"I don't especially care about seeing Percy!" My perfect brother wasn't high on my list of people I really wanted to be around at the moment. Under normal circumstances he'd be sanctimonious, but if he'd gotten promoted _and_ engaged, I had much better things to do with my time then listen to his stories.

_Gin, are you alright? You looked really upset over something yesterday, and while you're not an early riser, you usually don't sleep this late. Let me know. – Harry._

Harry's concern made me smile, and I was also glad to hear nothing about my relatives in this note.

_Ginny dearest, you'll have to come eat soon before there's nothing left!_ And that was Mum. Completely typical. I threw on a Weasley sweater over my white t-shirt and blue sweatpants and put stuffed my feet in a pair of pink fuzzy slippers before going downstairs.

"Ginny!" Chorused Fred, George, Ron, and Percy. I really hated my brothers sometimes. Hermione laughed before inviting me to sit.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," added Harry. I mumbled a hello to everybody before grabbing a warm blueberry muffin and a glass of orange juice.

"What kept you asleep so long?" Remarked Percy inquisitively.

"Late night. We didn't get in until… when, about midnight?" I asked, trying to send Hermione, Ron, and Harry subtle signals to not ask me what had happened just yet.

"About then. Ginny wasn't feeling well, so we left her to herself while we played a few games of Exploding Snap down here. When I went back upstairs it was about 1:30 and I think she'd just fallen asleep," explained Hermione. I guess it comes from years knowing the twins and being best friends with the gruesome twosome (as I sometimes like to call Harry and Ron), but Hermione is brilliant with quick excuses.

"That's too bad. But you really should be getting more sleep. You know, at fifteen…" Percy launched into one of his fabulously boring lectures, thereby promptly inviting the rest of us to finish our breakfasts in silence and begin taking dishes to the kitchen for washing. By the time a scrub brush was busy on the pans and a towel was flying around drying off the plates and stacking them, Percy was only just winding down.

"You know, Percy, I think I'm er… going to take a nap. All that sleep stuff you're talking about makes quite a bit of sense to me." I excused myself rather quickly, heading back up to my room. I hadn't thought about this the night before, so I needed to clear my head now. This venture, however, was interrupted as a jet-black owl swooped in through my window, dropping a letter bearing a green and silver crest. I felt sick to my stomach as I read my name on the front, written in Draco's tight, careful handwriting in green ink. Hands shaking slightly, I pried open the envelope.

_Ginny –_

_ Listen, I really am sorry about the incident at the club. Just, the thing's that well, clearly what had happened indicated prior problems in our relationship, and while I didn't choose quite the best way to do it, ending it was for the best. Happy hols._

_ Here's looking at you, kid._

"What the bloody hell is… how dare you… SCREW YOU MALFOY!" I immediately tore the thing in half. I realized my outburst would attract some attention, but I didn't really care. He just took the whole thing like our relationship was some dumb little tryst, something that hadn't really mattered. And you know what? Maybe we hadn't had Romeo and bloody Juliet, but we did not have something that goddamn flippant! And that line… the ending one.

Back when Dad was in his "bring home muggle objects and take them apart," phase, he'd brought home this thing called a television, and the entire family had watched this movie called "Casablanca." I was younger, at the time, and largely bored by it – but the one line at the end, where that one guy says "Here's looking at you, kid," stuck with me. Granted, it was mostly because my entire family then decided to make it their theme phrase for me for about two years afterward. So for Draco, who, I don't even know how, might I add, somehow found out about this to throw it in my face… well it shows his true colors, doesn't it?

At about the moment I was pacing back and forth about my room, Hermione came in through the door to witness my odd behavior.

"Stressed out much?"

"You could say that." I didn't think I wanted to explain everything to her just yet. "What are we doing today?"

"Well, Percy and the twins seem intent on a snowball fight," replied Hermione, a smile playing on her lips. "You interested?"

"Sounds great," I responded wryly. She exited soon after, and I changed quickly into jeans, a turtleneck, and thick socks. Giving it an extra moments' thought, I pulled on a pair of waterproof pants over my jeans before heading downstairs for my coat, gloves, boots, hat, and scarf. A snowball fight, I decided, would be good. I could play nicely with everybody while they were watching me, and then hurl snowballs filled with rocks at a tree, which I would pretend was Draco, until my arms fell off!


	7. My White Knight

**Disclaimer**: Yeah. I'm still not JK Rowling or anybody at Warner Bros, so I have no rights to Harry Potter.

**Author's Note**: Wow! I'm so loving the response to this! Thanks for reviewing guys, and keep it up! And in _this_ chapter I promise you'll see seeds of a Harry-Ginny romance! (P.S. Like this fic? Want to check out another of mine? Read "A Many Splendored Thing"!)

**Review Responses**:

_Guitargurl_ – Thanks! I have a lot of fun writing as Ginny, so I guess that's at least part of it.

_Sarunokona_ – Wow, you really think so? I'm flattered! Development of some real Harry-Ginny stuff is coming very soon, I promise!

_Sangeeta89_ – Why thank you! Don't worry, you'll see Draco again… won't tell you more than that, but he'll be back!

_DarkFlower2113_ – I'm going to respond to both of your reviews here, just since this story is currently progressing faster. Thanks for reading and liking both! I will definitely keep working on both, and I think I'll be putting up a new chapter of A Many Splendored Thing soon as well.

_MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus_ – Haha, I love your penname! And thanks, I'm for sure going to keep going on this! Keep reading!

_Mia Sedai_ – Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it. Keep reading and reviewing!

_Harrysmom_ – Yep, Draco showed his true colors… but Harry's going to sweep in soon!

_Carmel March _– That scene just totally stuck out in my mind while I was planning the chapter! Thanks for reviewing again!

You guys rock! Keep reading and reviewing!!

Stepping outside, the frigid December air took some of the edge off of my mood. Before heading out, I briefly said hello to Penelope, who'd been out during breakfast. I had nothing against her, but she was so incredibly much like Percy sometimes it scared me. Just to sit casually in the living room, she was dressed in pressed white pants, clean white socks (which had been underneath polished black leather boots), a starched pink cardigan, and a white mock turtleneck. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head, and she wore a pearl necklace and matching earrings. At Percy's age, she was only twenty, but as she sat there complacently reading The Daily Prophet she seemed like she was about thirty-five.

Once I got outside, I saw that Fred, George, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all already busy making "fortifications" (to quote Hermione), or snow walls (if you asked anyone else). It appeared that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had already teamed up, so I, in turn, took my place by Fred and George. Once the walls were up and the snowballs made, our little war began. The thing about a snowball fight is that it has the distinct power to make one completely indifferent to being repeatedly hit with something cold and wet while having to run and jump and dodge because it's so damn fun. At least, this has always been my take on them. We realized we must've been out there for about an hour, because Bill and Clarisse peeked out of the living room windows at us, waving to say hi. Eventually, Hermione surrendered, heading inside to warm up.

"You know," I remarked, narrowly dodging a snowball Ron aimed at my head. "As much as we all love Hermione," I paused to smirk (and tried very hard – albeit unsuccessfully – to push thoughts of Draco out of my head) and let everyone throw pointed looks at Ron, "She never has been one for the great outdoors."

"I heard that!" Yelled Hermione's voice through the window.

"We love you 'Mione!" I yelled back. The fight continued for another forty-five minutes until we were all completely drenched, freezing, and very much ready for hot chocolate.

Everybody got dry and warm, and settled in the house. I had made it nearly five hours since I'd woken up – and nearly fourteen since the incident – before anybody had asked me about what had happened with Draco, but my luck was clearly about to run out. I was curled up in an armchair by the fire, reading an old issue of Witch Weekly when, surprisingly, Harry was the first to approach me.

"Hey."

"Don't beat around the bush, I know what you're going to ask," I remarked, trying to keep things light.

"Oh really?" He matched my attitude, but I knew he wouldn't give up. He sat down in the armchair next to the side-table adjacent to mine.

"I'll save you the trouble." I put down the magazine and turned to face him. "You want to know why I ran out yesterday night."

"Something like that, yeah," he admitted.

"Do you know Katie Manning?"

"Fifth year, Slytherin, blonde hair and blue eyes, a little trashy, hot for Dra- no. That's not what you're saying, is it?" Harry looked at me in shock.

"It depends what you think I'm saying," I replied. The amount of effort it was taking to remain calm was steadily increasing, but so far I was keeping my cool. Harry didn't say anything, so I decided just to keep talking.

"When I went to get a drink yesterday, on my way back to our table I saw Draco. I was on my way over to say hi, but I also saw Katie. They were talking, flirting… and then they started snogging and dancing and they were just all over each other! So I took off – he saw me, tried to apologize, didn't mean it." I heard my voice waver slightly, but decided to push on through the story. "And so today he sent this." I took the two halves of Draco's note and handed them to Harry. Putting them together, he read it, his eyes narrowing angrily.

"I'll kill him," he announced matter-of-factly.

"No! Please, don't be… brotherly. I have six of those, what I need right now is a guy friend." Call me crazy, but I could swear I saw an almost imperceptible change in his eyes when I said that. Then again, a second later it was gone, so I brushed it off.

"It's just, it's not like I was in _love_ with him or whatever. But what we had… I thought it was really something, you know? Ah, that sounds dumb. I just mean I thought he really did care. I just feel so stupid! I just thought this was… different… or something…" I trailed off, feeling small. The whole thing was playing in my brain now – suddenly I felt like so naïve, so dumb. I'd fallen for the cocky, bad boy attitude and then discovered this new, softer, nicer layer. What I'd said was true, I hadn't been in love with him, but… there was something different. Or at least I thought there was. As hard as I tried to stop it happening, I felt my throat getting tighter and my eyes welling up.

Mum had once said that any guy worth crying over wouldn't make you cry – so given this, that disqualified Draco as a guy worthy of my tears, right? But I couldn't help it. With Harry still watching me silently, I started crying ever so slightly.

"And he dumped me for Katie Manning! But you know what, they're perfect together. Or at least, she must be better for him than… than… me," I said quietly. I hated this, I hated the whole thing. I felt so dumb for having fallen for him in the first place, and even dumber for feeling bad when it all ended, but I couldn't help it.

"Ginny, there's nobody better for him than you." I looked up at Harry in (watery-eyed) shock. He moved out of his chair and perched on the arm of mine.

"Not that I don't completely hate him _more_ now," he added quickly. "Just that you can't say there's anybody who's better off with someone but you. You, you'll be over this soon enough – you'll move on because you're funny and smart and beautiful and any guy would be lucky to have you! But Malfoy? He's going to realize Katie Manning is a rather slutty girl who really wants to add him to her collection of high-profile Slytherin ex-boyfriends, and pretty soon he'll realize what he threw away to have her." I sat quietly trying to process this information when I felt Harry lightly rubbing my back. Oddly enough (and overemotional girlie girl that I am), this only made me cry more, but it wasn't entirely due to my being mad and sad – I really did find it touching that Harry, who I had _such_ an enormous crush on when I was little and then got to be good friends with this year, was playing exactly the part of great, comforting guy.

"You're such a great friend, you know that?" I said, looking up.

"That's what I'm here for, Gin," he replied, smiling at me.


	8. Christmas Shopping

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, no matter how many chapters of fanfiction I write, I will still not own Harry Potter.

**Author's Note**: Ok guys, I'm sorry I know it's been a while but I promise I'll be good at updating from now on. Except for when I'm going out of town… OH KAY so you're not reading this to listen to my rambling so without further ado here's chapter 8… read, review, have fun! 3

**Review Responses**:

_MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus_ – Wow, you definitely win for first reviewer on the last chapter since you reviewed within like 10 minutes of posting it! And thank you!! I loooooved writing that chapter, it was so much fun.

_Angie_ – Is that good? if it is, why thank you!

_Nessie8_ – I know really! I'd for sure settle for him _or_ Draco!

_Hp-girl4eva_ – Yay! I'm totally enjoying writing it so I will most definitely continue soon! Say… now, for instance!

_BLuECoW219 –_ Thanks! Here's the next chpt!

_Carmel March_ – Wow, you're taking time from your vacation to read this? Thank you!! Here comes more…

_Zeldagrl1436_ – He can, can't he. How is he stupid though? Thanks for reviewing!

_Cooperstring_ – Wow! Thank you! Keep reading and reviewing!

Big thanks to the reviewers! Keep it them coming guys!!

Two days after my conversation with Harry, once the entire Weasley family once again inhabited the Burrow, I was awakened early in the morning not by people, but by sparkling, red and green fireworks streaking through the house. Whizzing into my room, they wound around spelling out the words "Two days 'till Christmas" before leaving to enter Ron's room down the hall. Though it was eight forty-five – positively early by _my_ normal standards – Hermione had already left the room, her bed neatly made and her pajamas folded. I love her dearly, but I _do not_ understand her sometimes. Mornings, in my belief, were made for sleeping – period.

Shoving my feet into my slippers and pulling a sweatshirt over my head, I went downstairs to see if I could help with breakfast. Ordinarily, it could be counted on that I was the latest riser out of my family, so I didn't doubt that it wasn't made yet. My assumption was correct, but when I offered my services to help Mum she suggested something altogether more horrible.

"O.W.L. practice papers? Are you out of your head?" I asked incredulously. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, which I promptly headed off with an acute look. Her study habits were one of those things about her I didn't understand.

"Well, Ginny, the fact of the matter is that you do in fact have the exams this year and now is as good a time as any to practice." Surely my Mum had lost her mind,

"Mum, it's December twenty third. In case you've forgotten, that's two days before Christmas. How do you expect me to concentrate on anything besides… family pursuits or napping or relaxing or shopping – shopping! Mum we have to go to Diagon Alley today!" With horror, I realized that I had, in fact, left my Christmas shopping to the last minute again.

"Next year, Gin, you'd do well to shop sometime _before_ the week immediately before Christmas." She continued pulling mugs from the shelf until eventually fourteen sat on the counter.

"Muuum!!" I pleaded.

"Do two O.W.L. papers before we go and you have a deal."

Two hours later I had finished the Transfiguration one and was halfway through History of Magic, having only taken a short break to get an English muffin and a cup of hot chocolate. Blessedly, at this time Hermione came in and said that my Mum was taking pity on me and had decided that two hours of schoolwork during the holidays was enough to compensate for my needing to shop so late in the year.

"That, and she's tired of waiting for you to finish," Hermione added as an afterthought. Twenty minutes later I was dressed and ready to go, at which point the three of us flooed to Diagon Alley. As soon as we got there I criticized myself mentally again – not only would it have been much cheaper to shop in Hogsmeade earlier this winter, but Diagon Alley was positively flooded with people who were, like me, shopping at the last minute.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the games begin," I muttered as Hermione and I bid my mum goodbye and pushed our way through the throngs of shoppers.

We'd left the Burrow at around eleven fifteen, and by two thirty I was starting to tire of shopping. When most people go out to buy their holiday gifts, they shop for their family first because it's easiest to get it out of the way and _then_ they shop for their friends. But when you have eight family members to shop for, this makes a plan like that distinctly more difficult. Miraculously – and I say this since I'm notoriously picky, a bit of a perfectionist even in shopping, and the term bargain shopper only begins to cover me – at the end of three hours and fifteen minutes I'd gotten gifts for nine out of the twelve people on my list. Hermione, Fred, George, Percy, Bill, Charlie, Ron, my other best fifth year friend Melissa, and Lia were all taken care of, but I had yet to find anything suitable for my parents and Harry.

"I don't understand this, why are they so much harder to shop for?" I complained to Hermione as we stopped for ice cream.

"Well parents are hard to shop for because they've given you exactly the gifts you want for your entire life and you feel the need, whether consciously or not, to repay them for their generosity. Also you never want to disappoint them," she philosophized between bites of her butterscotch sundae.

"Thank you Professor Trelawney," I remarked sarcastically.

"She spews up garbage about the future, I'm merely explaining to you the workings of your mind," Hermione replied with a slight smirk.

"Fine, fine. What about Harry, why is he so damn hard to shop for?" Suddenly her smirk turned into a downright sardonic smile worthy of the Cheshire Cat. I took a very large spoonful of strawberry ice cream and hot fudge; I had a feeling whatever she was going to say would be better answered with facial expressions than whatever bunch of garbage was likely to come out of my mouth, thus the latter was better full.

"Because _subconsciously_, you've realized you never completely let go of your attraction to him and now that Malfoy's out of the picture you can see that Harry, naturally, is the right choice. It comes down, again to the subconscious desire to note want to disappoint." She took a sip of water, looking extremely pleased with herself. I, meanwhile, swallowed my gargantuan bite of ice cream with some difficulty, and responded, "In layman's terms that would be?"

"You've yet to realize it, but you're secretly in love with him." Hermione looked nonchalantly at her nails, but I could tell it was killing her not to laugh. I can only imagine I made her efforts not to do so more difficult by coughing involuntarily.

"You don't have to answer, you know I'm right."

"I hate you sometimes, you know that?" We finished our ice cream rather quickly and headed back out into Diagon Alley, where a quick run-in with my mum informed us that we only had an hour left to finish. In the interest of saving time, at least according to Hermione, this meant we should go our separate ways. She may have had a point – without my running every purchase by her only to disregard her opinion entirely (I've already explained that I'm a perfectionist, so I feel no further need to justify my actions), I could probably shave a good twenty minutes off my purchasing time for each item.

A half hour into the remaining hour I'd finished shopping for Mum and Dad, but I still hadn't found anything for Harry. My feet aching with all the walking and my arms starting to hurt under the weight of bags full of gifts for my family and friends, I was _almost_ ready to give up. By almost, I mean that I really, _really_ wanted to but I couldn't. Given this, I went back into the store where I'd purchased Bill and Charlie's gifts. I spent about twenty inspirationless moments browsing, trying to find something that seemed adequate. But as I did this, something horrible happened – I started thinking. Now, I don't really mean that _thinking_ in and of itself is bad, but what I was thinking over was. Why was I taking such painstaking care to pick out Harry's present? He was just my friend. It wasn't as if I had to impress him, I didn't have feelings for him. And yet, if I didn't in fact have feelings for him, why was I thinking all of this over for the second time in a week? Bloody hell. As I paced and pondered through the back of the store, suddenly, miraculously, I saw something. A small, highly polished black box sat on a square of bright green velvet, and a yellowed piece of paper was attached to it. I picked up the piece of paper and brought it close to my face to read the small, faded writing.

_"Memory Box – by some annoying twist of fate, those things that you want to remember inevitably are the ones that escape you. But when you can preserve those memories in time, you have them forever. Made using the same principle of a Pensieve, this Memory Box works much the same way. The only difference is, this is to preserve those things you don't want to forget, rather than to store those things you don't want to remember. This Memory Box has one other particularly useful feature – very few people recall much of their childhood. By depositing those memories of ones childhood that do remain, in some cases those can be recovered_." Breathing very, very fast I knew in an instant that this was the perfect gift, and with shaking hands I took it to the front register. It dimly registered in my brain that it seemed odd that I should spend what I was sure would be an exorbitant amount of money on one gift that was clearly meaningful for somebody who was merely my friend, but I didn't care. This was the thing for Harry if anything was. Maybe a Pensieve, but I sure as hell couldn't afford one of those.

Once I'd paid for the Memory Box and reconvened with Mum and Hermione, we headed back to the Burrow to wrap everything. By the time that was finished and dinner was made and eaten, I was genuinely tired enough to want to go to bed at the tender hour of ten at night – a good hour and a half earlier than my norm. But deep seated tiredness doesn't take no for an answer, and thus I settled into my bed the earliest of all those in the Weasley household. As I drifted lazily off to sleep I was hit by one fleeting thought images of Harry receiving the Memory Box and being superbly happy besotted my tired brain. And before I completely fell asleep one more question drifted ambiguously through my mind – my preoccupation over the gift and it's recipient meant nothing, right?


	9. Seeing Fireworks

**Disclaimer:** Oh come on now, do I really have to keep repeating this? ::recites in monotone:: I do not own the Harry Potter books or any of the characters therein entailed.

**Author's Note:** Ahh! It's exciting; this chapter is going to start bringing us into the heart of the plot… yay! And just so you're all aware now, I'm going to be out of town for two weeks, so it's unlikely that I'll be able to update during that time. But I'll be back after that, I promise! BUT to compensate, I think this chapter's going to be a bit longer. Ok, I think that's it. Bye all; read and review! 3

**Review Responses:**

_Raiining_ – Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter! Once I got the idea for it (which seemed like it took FOREVER) I had so much fun writing it – let's just say that Ginny and I are very similar in our shopping styles… And I'm glad you like the gift for Harry – half the reason Ginny had so much trouble shopping for him is that I had a hard time coming up with something meaningful yet not _super_ important that she could give him!! Thanks for all your reviews, I'm glad you like this story!! Keep reading and reviewing!

_Obsessed87_ – Thank you, I'm glad you like it! keep reading and reviewing; here's chapter 9!!

_Zeldagrl1436_ – Thanks! Haha, it took me a while to figure out what she should get him, but I'm glad you agree that that'd be a good one for him!

_Hp-girl4eva_ – Yay, glad you liked it! Haha and you're welcome for being mentioned (and here you are again). I'm glad you like this story!! Keep reading and reviewing!

_Nessie8_ – Oh I know and I said there would be too, didn't I? ::hides:: But I can honestly say that there most definitely will be some soon. Thanks for reviewing, here's chapter 9!

_Rigal – _Here you go!

Self-doubt about my shopping decision didn't set in until mid-afternoon the next day. More specifically, during a game of Wizards' Chess. How was I possibly going to pass this off? It was an expensive (I am _beyond_ broke now), thoughtful gift that was perfect for him, if I do say so myself. Therein, of course, lies the problem – how in the world am I going to get anybody to believe that I didn't get him this gift because I'm deeply and passionately in love with him, the mere idea of which is mad. But, just because _I _am fully aware of the madness of this idea, doesn't mean my family (and Hermione) will be.

I was brought back to earth as one of my chess pieces screamed when Ron's knight knocked its head off.

"Gin, you suck at chess, dear sister," remarked Charlie, passing by. I shot him a look as Ron laughed hysterically. Fortunately, before I could continue my display of pitiful chess skills Hermione called for my attention.

"Duty calls," I said to Ron, and very quickly excused myself from the game. It didn't really matter, as I would've lost anyway.

"So what's on your mind?" I asked, after we'd retreated up the stairs to my room.

"Well… it really depends on whether or not you're willing to hear this," she said hesitantly.

"Ron troubles?"

"Ron troubles."

"Go ahead."

"So he asked me out when we went to that club, right? But ever since then, it's like nothing's different. And I keep wanting to talk to him, but I lose my nerve," she confessed. I thought this over for a minute and realized that I'd noticed this – their behavior was _exactly_ the same now that they were a couple as it was when they were friends who clearly wanted to be a couple but couldn't because they were both scared. Suddenly a lightbulb went off in my brain.

"Well, maybe you could say it with a gesture?"

"Like what?"

"That's where I don't know what to tell you," I replied, fiddling absent-mindedly with a stray thread on my comforter. But Hermione looked inspired, so I figured I'd leave it to her.

We went back downstairs, and I went back to Ron only to find out that he and Harry had finished my chess game and Ron, consequently, was snoring in an armchair by the table. It was only about 4 pm, which left several hours until the annual Weasley family tradition of opening one gift Christmas Eve and nothing to do until then. Thus, I joined Hermione in the living room and read an issue of "Teen Witch Weekly" lazily, vaguely searching my brain for something else to do. About twenty minutes passed before an option was given to me.

"Harry, you fancy a little pick up Quidditch game?" Asked Fred, who, broomstick in hand, was on his way out with Charlie and George.

"Yeah, I'll have a go at it. Gin, you want to join us?" An option much more appealing than reading, I quickly accepted and ran upstairs to get a coat, scarf, gloves, hat (I hate winter), and my broom and joined the boys outdoors.

Let me just say, as the give of us know all too well, wind isn't the best weather condition for Quidditch and so our game was abandoned after about forty-five minutes. The twins and Charlie headed back inside, but I wasn't really in the mood to sit around. Me personally, I adore Christmas, and consequently am very bad at sitting around while I'm busy being excited. I kept flying around, just low enough to be hidden from plain view by the trees, singing Christmas carols. I'm not a great singer, but I'm not a half-bad one either, so this simplistic entertainment kept me amused for a good ten minutes before I realized, with mounting humiliation, that Harry was watching me, an expression of somebody trying very hard not to laugh on his face. I felt myself flush the color of my hair before coming back to the ground.

"I figured you had gone inside," I explained sheepishly.

"I did, for a bit, I just… being outside suits me better at the moment," he replied neutrally. He didn't look at me as he said this, but instead stared rather blankly out at the blue-gray December sky.

'It's a bit different a Christmas this year, isn't it? Family and friends, sure, but not _quite_ so many people I don't think," he said, and in this I could tell he was working a bit harder to keep his voice neutral. Suddenly I felt my stomach drop – I had been so wrapped up in my own problems that I hadn't even stopped to think that of course Harry would be thinking of last year. He was right, it was different, but in vastly different ways for the two of us. And his difference – that Sirius was still alive – was a much, much greater than mine of a mere change of location.

"Oh my… Harry I… Merlin, I'm sorry Harry," I said, jumbling over my words as my brain worked furiously to come up with something, anything appropriate to say.

"You know what, forget about it, I don't know why I've brought it up," he said quickly and with a touch of hardness in his voice.

"Stop!" I said crossly and seeing him stiffen I instantly regretted it. "I mean, it's just that… you don't need to be angry with me. You can't just shut everybody out." We both softened as I spoke, and he finally turned to face me.

"I know, I'm sorry Gin. I really _don't _know why I've brought it up." But I could guess that he knew exactly why he'd said it, because it seemed to be taking him more and more effort to get the words out.

"Talk to me," I said quietly, walking to the table in our yard and sitting down.

"There's nothing really to talk about, just… it's hard."

"I know." Realizing what I'd said, and how it could be construed as insensitive, I backtracked quickly.

"I mean I know how hard this must be for you, not that I understand." He didn't say anything, so I kept talking to fill the silence.

"You don't have to say anything now, but know we're all here for you," I gave the warmest smile I could muster while berating myself for using such a clichéd line. This, I guess, showed in my face, because Harry laughed a little.

"Thanks, Gin,"

"You can always talk to me, Harry, don't ever forget that," I said, smiling for real now and pulling him into a hug. Once I did this I got a chill that I was quite sure had nothing to do with the wind or the weather, but I did my best to ignore it.

After our talk, we went back inside and watched as Hermione played Fred at Gobstones. She was losing rather badly, this largely because she consistently kept watching Ron out of the corner of her eye. From her gesture, I guessed it had to do with her mystery plan. A short while later, Mum _finally_ called for dinner. This announcement was music to my ears, as it brought us that much closer to presents. Some might see this as shallow; I prefer to think of it as retaining a good sense of childlike excitement over major holidays.

Once the fourteen of us (the family plus Hermione and Harry, as well as Percy, Charlie, and Bill's respective girlfriends) had worked our way through Mum's typical mountain of food meal, we were just heading over to the tree to open presents when Fred and George announced they had a surprise for us – one that involved going outside. After the collective groan, we all scattered to get coats, gloves, hats, and other articles of warm clothing. All, that is, except for Hermione. She was lagging back, very carefully eyeing Ron. Very curious as to what exactly she had in mind, I pretended to have a vested interest in something in the kitchen. Once Ron, being the last person, started to go up the stairs, Hermione took a deep breath and called over to him. As he started talking over to her, I suddenly noticed a very small, but definite sprig of mistletoe stationed right about her head. I was conflicted – as much as I wanted to see their relationship work out, seeing them snogging was _not_ in my immediate agenda. Oh well… I'll live.

"What's up, Mione?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head and looking at the floor. She smiled slightly.

"Look up, and then look at me," she commanded, tipping his chin upward. Ron's widened before he came back to meet Hermione's gaze. They looked at each other for a split second before Hermione leaned in and kissed him. Clearly it took Ron a second to realize what exactly was happening, but he then kissed her back. An _adorable _moment, and to avoid further intrusion I retreated up to my room to get my coat.

Bundled up in our frigid weather gear, we all retreated outside, awaiting this surprise Fred and George had planned. We shivered and waited for about two minutes before spectacular fireworks exploded grandly into the velvety black sky. Christmas trees, bells, candles, and all sorts of Yuletide decorations danced elaborately together as we watched. I let out a low whistle.

"Pretty spectacular, aren't they?" I remarked to no one in particular. To my surprise, Harry, who was sitting on my right, responded.

"Yeah. Listen, Gin… I er, wanted to give you this now." He pulled a small, wrapped box from his pocket, placing it in my gloved hand. Somewhat clumsily, I peeled away the festive wrapping paper to reveal a small, plain, black box. When I opened it, however, it was an entirely different story. A glistening silver heart-shaped hoop was hung on a thin, seemingly glittering silver chain. In the simplest of terms, the necklace was stunning. My breath caught – I'd never been given a piece of jewelry like this before. Suddenly my heart started racing as I felt particularly tongue-tied trying to come up with an adequate response.

"It's perfect," I finally whispered, smiling shyly.

"It's… well it's nothing, really. All girls deserve beautiful jewelry… at least I've been told," replied Harry, looking down embarrassed.

"I love it," I said, even more quietly.

Maybe it was the jewelry. Maybe it's that it was Christmas Eve. Maybe I felt extra daring after seeing Hermione. Maybe it was the fireworks. Maybe it was the stars, the moonlight, the cold, whatever. But the next thing I knew, I had put the box in the pocket of my coat, and I was kissing Harry Potter as the twins' fireworks sparkled into their grand finale.


	10. You Bet

**Disclaimer:** _Still_ don't own Harry Potter. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.

**Author's Note:** Ok, I'm back!! It's been a two-week hiatus, but here's chapter ten! Thanks so much for the great response to chapter 9, and so without much further ado, here's chapter ten!

**Review Responses**:

_Hp-girl4eva_ – Wow, right back at you! Thanks so much, I'm so surprised I could affect you that much. Keep reading and reviewing, here's chapter ten!

_Kimberly Grace_ – Glad you like it! After a short hiatus, here's chapter 10!

_Obsessed87_ – Yes! Sorry about the wait, but here I am with the next chapter; glad you liked chapter 9!

_MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus_ – Aww I know… (no intentional self praising, I swear) – it was just such a cute moment in my head that I had to make it the end of a Chapter.

_MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus_ –Again! But seriously, doesn't she? Wish I had that skill… the knowing everything thing, that is.

_Nessie8_ – No, not the end of the story!! See, we're back with chapter 10. Just I was going out of town, so that was going to be the last chapter for a while. Don't worry, there's at least, probably… 4 chapters left. Thanks for reviewing!

_BLuECoW219_ – Glad you liked it so much! Here's chapter 10

_Lizzie5555555_- Aren't they? Thanks for the review.

_Lyss_ – Yep, I have a personal preference towards cliffhangers or happy endings… ;-D. you can't make them all that way, but they're fun.

_Aquaflower_ – Yeah, I thought of that too, the Ginny/Draco thing. I tried to resolve that bit in this chapter, and I need to maybe go back to change around some time things that I may not have specified before.

_Raiining_ – Yeah, the Ron and Hermione part was fun too. Thanks for reviewing; here's chapter ten!

Carmel March –Haha, I just got back from vacation as well… which is why this chapter's been so long coming. Thanks for loving chapter 9! 

As the twins' fireworks kept exploding over our heads, alarm bells began going off _in _my head. What the hell was I thinking? I just kissed Harry! Wait, no, a more accurate definition of what we'd just done was snogging. Yes, definitely snogging. I pulled back from him, a knot forming tightly in my stomach.

"Merlin, Harry, I…" I felt an all-too-familiar flush rise in my cheeks and thanked God, Merlin, and whatever other deities were listening that it was in fact very dark out.

"No need to praise me so highly, Gin," he teased. I gave a weak smile while feeling around for the box Harry had given me.

"I… I'm sorry, you know I just… I shouldn't have… I mean… I have to go," I finally spit out. Racing through my house to my room, I threw off my coat and boots without so much as pausing. Once I was sitting on my bed, necklace box beside me, I began to freak out ever so slightly. A little hyperventilation, but nothing major. What on earth had I just done? It was four days ago that I found out my ex-boyfriend was heating on me, and three that I cried on Harry's shoulder about it. it was four minutes ago that Harry had given me the most expensive, beautiful piece of jewelry I'd ever owned, and it was three minutes ago that, instead of saying "Thank you, I love it, it's gorgeous," I chose to snog him.

"There is clearly something wrong with me," I muttered aloud to myself. But honestly! The only girls I knew who did things like this were, frankly, slutty.

"And named Katie Manning," I remarked out loud again. After a moment's pause, I added, "Oh good- along with being crazy and slutty, I've now progressed to talking to myself!" I flopped backward onto my pillow. 'Maybe I'm over thinking this- there's got to be a rational reason I'm acting like a psychopath,' I thought. This, though, somehow seemed oxymoronic. I got up from my bed and pulled a small shoebox from beneath it. Adorned with stickers, glitter, lace, ribbons, and other various little girlish decorative things, I'd had the box since I was four. Mum had given it to me "for your special things," and for the past nine years I'd been collecting stuff in it. From my acceptance letter to Hogwarts, to the lipstick I'd been wearing when I'd had my first kiss (Michael Corner, 4th year, _mistake_), the box was getting pretty full, but that wasn't my concern at the moment. Whereas there were a lot of pictures of me and Dean and me and Michael, only one existed of me and Draco, at least that I knew about. I wasn't blind; Draco and I may've had a fine (or at least I thought) relationship, but it would've been beyond stupid to parade it to the school. Given this, you can imagine my surprise when, just a few weeks after I'd told her about us, Lia presented me with a candid picture she'd managed to get of the two of us messing around (_not_ literally) on the grounds.

I studied the photo of us – who'd have thought it'd be like this, us having broken up catastrophically badly and my having hooked up with Harry. Harry! What in Merlin's name was I supposed to do about that anyway? I didn't even want to know what he was thinking right now. The best course of action, then, I decided, was to avoid him and skate the issue entirely.

"Ginny dear, come back downstairs!" Yelled Mum. Shit.

"For what?"

"Cookies and tea, you know that!" She yelled back, talking to me as if I were five. Grudgingly, I headed back downstairs for our other Christmas Eve tradition. Between eleven and midnight each night before Christmas, Mum serves her traditional cookies with peppermint-berry tea and we all sit around by the fire eating cookies and drinking tea. The purpose, according to Mum, was to bond as a family, but once we'd all gotten older and wiser we realized that the true intent was actually to tire us out so we wouldn't wake Mum and Dad before six on Christmas morning. Now, ordinarily, I love this tradition. Given the specific circumstances, though, I was altogether not looking forward to this.

I was hard-pressed to not notice that Harry was sitting in the corner of the room opposite me, talking in hushed tones with Hermione and looking anywhere but directly at me. meanwhile, Ron was talking to Bill and the twins, leaving me to sip my tea, much on cookies, and make small talk with Penelope and Bill's girlfriend du jour Audrey. He tends to have a different one each Christmas. Fortunately, about fifteen minutes later Hermione came over to rescue me from the deadly dull conversation we were having. Or, I realized, maybe not so fortunately since she'd just finished talking to Harry.

"So don't think for a second I didn't notice your snogfest with Harry. Now the question is, what do you plan to do about it?" I opened my mouth, but all I accomplished was to gape at her like a fish, so she plowed on forward.

"Listen, Ginny, I don't know if you're blind, deaf, dumb, or all three, but clearly you're the only one who doesn't realize this so allow me to spell it out for you – Harry really likes you. As in, more than platonically. Why else would he have given you that necklace and then happily kissed you back."

"Well I…" that Harry liked me was tricky to wrap my head around, but I'd get back to it later. " You know what, fine, but why's he avoiding me now?" I asked, looking at Harry who, despite being rather close to us, was still determinedly avoiding my eyeline.

"He's confused! And honestly, right now he thinks you're just screwing with him."

"I wouldn't do that!"

"Don't tell me! Tell him."

"What??"

"Tell him how you feel."

"Bugger, 'Mione, I don't know!"

"Do you like him?"

"I d-"

"Don't say you don't know; think and then answer!" So, shockingly, I did what I was told. And equally shockingly, as I thought of how I felt buying his present, getting mine from him; thinking of the feeling of his arms around me and his lips on mine, the answer was simple.

"Yes. Yes I do, are you happy now? But… I just broke up with Draco and so I shouldn't and what does this make me? And I can't… don't… what does that mean?"

"Is it possible you never completely gave up on Harry in the first place? not in the same puppy love type way, but you know, in the back of your mind as somebody you could see yourself with?"

"Can I just have some time to think this all over?" I asked pitifully. Silently she got up to go talk to – read: snog- Ron, and while, I was thinking, I actually ended up falling asleep. Ordinarily when I have this much to think about, I find it next to impossible to fall asleep, but all the things circling around in my head were giving me a headache and so I fell asleep after about fifteen minutes. Given that I'd fallen asleep, I was very surprised to wake up at 2 a.m. in my own bed, still dressed in my clothes. Suddenly the inspiration to talk to Harry I'd been lacking came to me. I changed into real pajamas, piled my hair into a bun on top of my head, and put on the necklace Harry'd given me. I grabbed his present, stuffed my feet into slippers, and then slowly and quietly tiptoed into Ron's room, where Harry was sleeping. Delicately, I sat on the edge of Harry's bed, very glad that my brother was snoring.

"Harry," I whispered, my heart beating louder than I was speaking. Miraculously, he woke up and wasn't too startled to see me.

"You're wearing my necklace," he noted sleepily.

"Look, I'm sorry I acted like such a… well, crazy person I guess. I wanted to give you this now, before everyone else is around." Trying to stay calm, I handed him the Memory Box. I watched as he opened it and read the card, and then was silent for a while.

"Do… d'you like it?" I asked timidly.

"It's… amazing. It's perfect," he replied, looking me in the eye. I took a deep breath seeing my change to talk to Harry right in front of me.

"Listen, the necklace, it's uh, I love it. And as for the k- other thing, I… I'm sorry I was being an idiot. I don't know what you're thinking about me but you have to know how I really feel. And that's that…" I couldn't say it, it was too nerve-wracking. So I kissed him instead. He pulled his head back a little, but I could tell he was smiling.

"For real?" He asked, though already sliding an arm around my back.

"You bet," I replied, relief flooding through me before I returned my lips to his.


	11. All I Want for Christmas

**Disclaimer: **Oh come on now, do I really have to keep doing this?

**Author's Note:** So to be fair, I'll warn everyone now, this chapter's going to be rather short. After this though, things will pick up as we're carried into the sort of home stretch of this story (don't worry though, it's not that close to overÉ I'm not sure exactly how far, but it's not like, about to end suddenly). Right so now that I've rambled, I don't really have that much more to say about this story. Oh, an advertisement of sorts: coming soon (although the exact time is as of yet unknown) I'll be putting up a new story, an Angelina/Fred story called Bewitched, so if you like that pairing be on the lookout for it! Alright now I plan to really start this chapter! Again, thanks to all the reviewers, you guys are awesome!

**Review Responses:**

_Carmel March _– Thanks! This chapter deals with H/G as a couple too, so it's more of the same from this one. Glad you enjoyed it!

_Hp-girl4eva_ – Edmonton Ontario? If so, I used to live in Toronto! Thanks so much for your enthusiasm about this story, keep reading and reviewing!!

_Lizzie5555555_ – Well, you're about to see, but nothing over the top.

_BLuECoW219 – _Hooray for dancing like a crazy person! Glad you liked it, here's chpt 11!

_MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus_ – Yay!! Glad you liked it!! Hey, there's still hope; after all they didn't come up with life imitating art for nothing. Damn, wait, it's actually art imitating life but shhÉ you never know!! Thanks for reviewing!

_Hploveralways_ – Thanks!!

_Raiining_ – Haha thanks, I do that myself sometimes – I really need to stop that habit, haha. Glad you liked it!

_Nessie8_ – God I know! Thank you for your lovely almost squeal, hehe!

_DarkFlower2113_ – Why thank you!

_The-insuferable-know-it-all_ – Thanks, glad you liked it! Here's chapter 11!

_Lily Dwarf_ – Aww, sorry about that! I actually like him too, but in this story I have to sort of turn off that part of my brain, haha! Thanks for reviewing!!

About two minutes later, I realized that if Ron woke up, the mental deliberations I'd considered a vague drama earlier this afternoon wouldn't even _start_ to cover it. I explained this to Harry, and so I got up and started for my own room. When I'd gotten all the way down the hallway, though, I heard footsteps behind me, and my heart about stopped. I very, very slowly turned around, expecting to be face to face with a mad axe-murderer. You can imagine, then, how incredibly stupid I felt to see Harry standing there, looking nothing like an axe-murderer as he was dressed in pajama pants and a robe, very amused at having just been the reason for my near heart-attack.

"You know, this is going to be very interesting if you jump out of your skin _every_ time you see me," he whispered teasingly. Attempting fury but only managing to work myself into mock anger, I shot back that it was not, in fact, very nice to scare people out of their wits in the middle of the night in their own homes.

"Fair enough. But I need to talk to you," he said, seriousness overtaking the playful expression he'd worn moments before. A hard knot formed in my stomach as clouds of doubt began to materialize in my mind, but I merely nodded and followed Harry as he led me downstairs.

Sitting down in a chair in the kitchen, he ran his hand through his hair thoughtfully. I couldn't judge his expression, but this inability wasn't lessening my anxieties in the slightest. After what felt like ages (but was probably a minute, tops), he finally spoke.

"Listen, Ginny, todayÉ tonight wasÉ very very strange, actually, but also incredible. But I need to know where this leaves us," he said, staring me down in a way that made this simple question very tricky now.

"I uhÉ well what I mean to say is er uhÉ umÉ" I stammered, heat rising in my cheeks. _Just say it!_' I told myself. Harry's face fell, but he opened his mouth to speak again.

"Look, Gin, I'm just going to get it out here without any pretense. ForÉ well for a while now, sinceÉ well the since doesn't matter, butÉ" he paused to recollect himself, and then began again.

"I like you, alright? And I tried to ignore it because it was easier. You're my best mate's sister. Hell, you're one of my good mates yourself. And you were dating thatÉ thatÉ asshole, that prick Malfoy. So I didn't say anything, didn't do anything. But so when I thought, tonight, that you felt the same I was just, there were no words. And then you ran, and now you're back. I want to believe you're not screwing with me, Gin, and mostly I do. ButÉ Merlin it's justÉ I don't even know." He looked expectantly at me and, by some huge stroke of luck I didn't get completely tongue-tied.

"Harry, erÉ" Hey, I said I didn't get _completely _tongue-tied, that doesn't mean I didn't stutter a little, but I took a breath and recovered.

"If whatever I did or said confused you, it was only because I didn't know myself what the hell I was thinking. Ok, that's not entirely true. I knew what I was thinking, I didn't know what you were thinking of me. How was I supposed to know any of that? For all I knew, you thought I was a psycho. And that's how I felt, so I got freaked out and took off. BecauseÉ when I talked to you about Dr –" I stopped myself from using his first name, figuring using the surname would be a habit I'd have to get back into.

"When I talked to you about Malfoy, that's when I had my doubts. In the back of my brain, I guess. But I ignored it because hello, I'd just broken up with your arch nemesis and I was coming to you about it. The only thing stranger would've been for me to go to Ron, for God's sake! The fact then, that I was pushing back feelings for you during this time, didn't make things any easier. Besides, in my mind you thought of me as Ginny, Ron's sister and your friend, but nothing really more." I stopped quickly, realizing how accusatory and teenage angsty this was starting to sound.

"But enough of my mindless blathering – the point is I like you, Harry, and whatever I've done to make you think I'm screwing with you, I'm sorry. I definitely have feelings for you, and they're sure as hell not just in the back of my mind," I said, smiling ever so slightly. Harry's face remained neutral for a minute, and I tried to conceal the rising doubt in mine by maintaining my slight smile. After another one of those minutes that feels like an hour, he broke into a wide grin.

"So does this meanÉ" he began, in a manner I can only describe as, well, coy.

"If you want it to," I replied the same way. He let out a low whistle.

"Merry Christmas to me, then," he said, moving from his place across the table to come sit beside me, wrapping his arms around me. Even at the ripe old age of fifteen, it took a lot for me not to squeal at this moment. I turned to face him, pressing my lips lightly to his.

"Not at all, Mr. Potter. Merry Christmas to us," I said softly.

"Merry Christmas to us indeed," he said, amused.

We stayed downstairs for another twenty minutes, alternating talking and kissing. I have to say, a girl could get used to Christmas Eve's like this.

When I finally got back to my room to fall asleep for good, I fell asleep with the sound of Harry's words echoing over in my head. Imagine my surprise, my two best Christmas presents from the same person, and one being the person himself. Sort of a beautiful irony there, I thought, drifting off to sleep with a goofy smile on my face.


	12. Of Holidays and Planning Dates

**Disclaimer**: I changed my mind on giving up on these – I've decided I'm just going to it in different languages from now on. So, _yo no soy due–a de Harry Potter o lo que tiene relaci—n a Harry Potter – todos los derechos de Harry Potter son de J.K. Rowling y los Hermanos Warner, entonces ser'a imposible para decir que yo tengo derechos._

**Author's Note**: Okay, it's been AGES. I knowÉ ::hides from assortment of things being thrown:: This was an abnormally long pause, but I swear I'll try to update more frequently now. I'm busy with school and rehearsals and things, but from now on I'll make a general promise to have a new chapter up every other week until I'm done, k? Oh, additional author's note – if you find this chapter boring I'm sorry, because frankly I do too! It's just that I had to cover a lot of time so that the plot can actually progress.

**Review Responses**:

_Hp-girl4eva_ – Oh, ok. So glad you like it! And you're very clever to pick up on the Ginny/Draco business, actuallyÉ let's just say it's not over till it's over. Thanks for the review!

_Carmel March _ -Yay that you think it's awesome! Here's chapter 12!

_bLuECoW219_ – Woo, happy dancing is always fun! Thank you! Yeah, I've been noticing that about the dialogue – I haven't exactly been trying to make it distinctly British, but I've been working to make it sound not totally Americanized, which is hard since I'm American! But I'm glad you think it doesn't distract or anything, so I'm glad you like it!

_The-insufferable-know-it-all_ – Yay, glad you think so!

_MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus_ – Awesome, glad you loved it! Haha about the "every girls dream" part – now if only we could all get things like this to happen in the real world!

_Shiseidox_ – Thanks!

_Sugarhighloon _– Here's chapter 12!

_Raiining_ – Thanks! Haha, I wrote the line (of dialogue) and then I was likeÉ ok, how do I describe that and then the word came to me and I was like "ahh that's so not Harry but I love it, haha." So I'm glad you liked it!

_Lizzie5555555_ – Awesome, good that you thought it was cute!

Despite having gone to bed around, oh, two in the morning, by some miracle I still woke up at seven. By seven fifteen I'd finished a mug of highly caffeinated tea, but I was awake. And I'd woken up in a very nice way – there was something about knowing that not only was it Christmas but also that Harry was my boyfriend that put a smile on my face instantly when my eyes first opened in the morning.

By seven forty-five (which felt like an _eternity _after I'd woken up) the whole family was awake and we were ready to commence with the gift giving. Since giving Harry's gift was over and done, I wasn't really that concerned about how the rest of them would go over – it was my family and Hermione, and I was reasonably sure that they would like them all. Three hours later – this being a dual blessing and curse of having a gigantic family, everything takes twice as long – all was said and done, we were all happy, and I turned out to have been right about the gifts.

It wasn't until halfway through breakfast that people (other than Hermione, who is naturally perceptive and in any case facilitated half of our entire relationship's beginning) began to notice something between Harry and I. Shockingly, actually, it was Ron. Granted, Ron was the first person to begin the insinuations that we should be together, but as my brother is the king of being unperceptive, I assumed he would be the last to know anything if it wasn't directly told to him. He, however, was the only one to notice that Harry hadn't given me anything that morning and I hadn't given him anything either. I was rather impressed, actually.

The day went uneventfully, with a lot of lounging in the house and general enjoyment of the holiday. Harry and I did have a good moment (well, hour and a half) to ourselves in the living room when more or less everyone else was napping, however. Probably the most exciting part of the day was watching Fred and George attempt to eat their weight in Christmas dinner, a testament to a very relaxed, laidback day.

Entirely too soon, another week went by and Harry, Ron, Hermione and I had to head back to Hogwarts while the rest of the family slowly left the house to go back to their respective daily lives.

At school, things fell back into a regular pattern of class, homework, tests, stress, and wedging in life somewhere in the mix until mid January, when an upcoming Hogsmeade weekend provided a temporary distraction from the increasing amounts of work we fifth years were being given.

Very late (or very early, depending on how you want to see it), I was up in the common room struggling to finish off the last foot of a required potions essay when I heard footsteps behind me. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be unusual at all, but at around one thirty in the morning it was considerably stranger. Naturally, then, when I felt somebody's hands on my shoulders I jumped about a foot out of my chair. To my utmost relief, I turned to see Harry standing there, clearly very amused at my shock.

"What on earth are you doing up so late?" He asked, as I stifled a yawn.

"You see, Professor Snape decided to give us the brilliant opportunity to enrich our knowledge of four extremely rare and obscure potions through analytical essay writing, so I'm staying up to maximize the opportunity I've been given." The sarcasm in my voice would've made any Slytherin proud, and Harry laughed softly.

"Well take a break for a minute and come sit with me," he asked, taking me by the hands and leading me towards a sofa. This was a request with which I was more than happy to comply, and so I followed obligingly, settling myself comfortably next to Harry, his arms wrapped around me.

"So, you know that this weekend is the next Hogsmeade weekend," he began slowly, almost as if he were teasing me.

"Nope, wasn't aware," I replied dreamily.

"Oh. Well now that you are, I don't suppose you'd like to go with me?

"You mean like a first official date?

"We could call it that if you want." Once Harry'd said this my inner self was jumping up and down screaming in girlish glee, but I managed to contain myself and just smile widely.

"I think I might like that," I answered him with as much casual dignity as I could manage.

"Brilliant," he replied softly, turning my face toward his and kissing me. After only a _tiny_ bit of snogging, Harry went back to bed and I applied myself to my essay, the thought of Harry and the coming weekend keeping me motivated for another half hour, before I promptly passed out asleep on the same couch.


	13. Perfect Comes with Problems

**Disclaimer:** Okay. Seriously, this is the last one of these, because by this point I'm _hoping_ you all know I don't own Harry Potter. That would be pretty cool though

**Author's Note:** So I'd like to prep you all now, we're getting closer to the end. Not like, _close_ close, but within say five chapters. Without dwelling too much on that though, thanks a million to everybody who was nice enough to review my last chapter even though it took me 4327849371894321 years to get it up and, as promised, here's the next one, a little more timely

**Review Responses:**

_Sugarhighloon_- awesome, glad you liked it! Here's chapter 13, a bit sooner than the last, hehe.

_MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus_ – Yay! I was sort of worried about how this one would go over just since it was really like a filler/move time along chapter, so awesome that you liked it! Here's chapter 13!

_Lily Dwarf_ – Awesome, thanks for reviewing!

_Hp-girl4eva_ – Haha yay! Yeah, I know it took me forever and a year to update, but I'll be better from now on swear. The Hogsmeade trip is going to be _pretty_ exciting, but it's all buildling up to something JÉ that's all I'm going to say for now. Thanks for reviewing!

_The-insufferable-know-it-all_ – Thanks!

_Carmel March_ – Thank you for reviewing! And yay, so glad you liked it! And wow, don't even worry about not reviewing. I figure a month and a half at least waiting for the story is a fair enough trade off. So here's chapter 13!

Even having to wait from late Thursday night (or early Friday morning, depending on how you want to see it) until Saturday felt like it took about forever. After the holidays the sheer volume of work we'd been getting had increased tenfold, so the advent of any weekend was like finally finding a beach after you've been stranded in the ocean for a month. Okay, so granted that may be a bit melodramatic but it was definitely true about this particular weekend. The prospect of an entire Saturday spent wandering around Hogsmeade with Harry was enough to propel me through all my Friday classes and actually motivate me to do all (okay, half) of my homework that night so that I wouldn't have to do anything over the weekend. Even Hermione noticed my newfound work ethic, which scared me a bit. Once Hermione is taking note of your study habits _favorably_, it's time to cut back.

There was something about being with Harry that was easier than being with Michael, Dean, and Malfoy had been. We'd already been through the getting really close and being friends part, so it was as if we were starting out at step ten. And I liked that.

Ordinarily, I would've liked that I could've slept through breakfast and had nobody care. But when Hermione shook me awake at eleven thirty, reminding me that the train for Hogsmeade left in forty-five minutes, I was not pleased.

"I don't see what you're so worried about," she said as she perched herself on my bed while I dug frantically through my trunk trying to find something presentable to wear. I shot her a glare and continued digging. Unsatisfied with my findings, I rushed into the bathroom to brush my teeth and put my hair up.

"Leave it down," called Hermione after me. "It's beyond frigid today. Anyways, it's only Harry. I know he's your _boyfriend_ now, but it's still just Harry. What are you so tweaked about?" Putting down my hairbrush I stared at my reflection and considered this. What _did_ I have to worry about anyway?

"I don't know, ÔMione, I'm justÉ nervous I guess. Hey, aren't you stressed at all? Aren't you going with Ron today?" There. Okay, it wasn't exactly honest, but turning the tables on Hermione and asking the same question back to her almost always got her off my case. She flushed crimson but replied that, yes, she was in fact perfectly calm. Bugger.

"Gin, all I'm saying is that it's not like you have to make an impression on him. Clearly you've already done that or he wouldn't've liked you for the two months before he told you.

"Two months? I thought it was only a while. That's what he said." Hermione smirked when I said this.

"You had other things on your mind," she replied in a manner that wasn't quite snarky, but implied something I didn't like.

"Alright! It was a bad decision! It's not as if I would do it again!" We chatted for a little while longer until I finally pulled out a pair of jeans and a cute striped sweater to wear underneath my robes, gloves, coat, and boots. You know, come to think of it, I rather hate winter. Trying to bear in mind what Hermione had told me, I applied just enough makeup to give some color to my normal January skin hue of super pale.

At twelve fifteen I met up with Harry in the Great Hall, and instantly all the stupid apprehensions I'd had before melted away.

"Going for a snow bunny type look, are we?" Teased Harry.

"Only if it makes you happy, Potter, only if it makes you happy," I shot back. The day continued this way. Being with Harry was simple, it was easy, it was wonderful and it felt right. There was nothing else to it, it just felt right. By one in the afternoon, I was more relaxed than I had been since the Christmas holidays ended. Entering the Three Broomsticks for lunch, however, the seeds of change were planed with the first two faces I saw.

Slytherin's newest power couple was deigning to be seen in such a "common" establishment as the Three Broomsticks, and, as luck would have it, both of them instantly noticed when Harry and I walked through the door. I couldn't help it – cool and collected was normally my style in these encounters, but as two well-groomed blondes turned to look directly at me I tensed. Harry's arm slipped protectively around my waist and I relaxed a little, but I could tell this was going to be difficult. We walked directly passed them and it seemed as if lunch would go off without an encounter until I overheard,

"Aww, how cute. Little Weaselette went and got herself a second tier boyfriend. Isn't that sweet Draco?" I couldn't help it. I snapped my head around to see Katie smirking at me. _You've got nothing on him, or for that matter me_, I thought privately to myself. I still say the smirking thing is a pretty big perk – it's actually a really handy skill. Miraculously, the perfect response popped into my head _before_ I walked away, avoiding one of those situations where one waits a few seconds longer than the unofficial designated response time.

"Aww, how cute. The snake and the slut. I suppose treacherous and trampy go well together. Do have fun now!" I looked back at Katie for just long enough to watch her classically pretty face contort unattractively before walking away with Harry.

"Are you okay?" Questioned Harry once we'd sat down.

"Fine," I replied robotically. He started at me quizzically, grabbing my hand and stopping me from picking apart my paper napkin.

"Or maybe not entirely fine," I started. Instantly something changed behind Harry's eyes and I blushed as deeply as my hair.

"I'm fine with seeing them together," I clarified. "And I'm definitely fine with them being together. They deserve one another. But I do not want people thinking that you're my sloppy seconds or some shit like that! And I especially don't want people hearing it from Malfoy!" Thankfully, Harry smiled at my little outburst.

"Look. If you think that's what I think, we have bigger issues. You're perfect just the way you are to me, alright Gin? Don't ever forget that." I'm perfect? Did he just hear himself? I blushed again.

"I never doubted you for a second, we've been over that." He leaned across the table and kissed my forehead while I used all my willpower to not squeal. Sitting back down, however, he smiled a little more deviously.

"But, if you'd like to show your true feelings to everybody else, I doubt I'd mind." He teased seductively. Gee, did I have to?

"You know, I doubt I'd mind either," I replied, making my way from my chair to Harry's lap and kissing him. It was definitely a _good_ moment.

Pity I didn't hear the conversation Malfoy and Katie were having across the room


	14. Some Kind of Terrible

**Disclaimer:** Yeah, I still _do not_ own Harry Potter. The end.

**Author's Note:** Okay, okay, so it took me longer than I promised for this chapter! I've just been super busy latelyÉ what with homework and our play coming upÉ basically things've been crazy, but I'll try to be better. Just so you all know, we're getting near the end, story wise. That's slightly sad, but also pretty exciting. So just bear with me and thanks SO much for continuing to read and review!

**Review Notes:**

_MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus_ – Woo yay! Thanks for reviewing!

_Hp-girl4eva_ – Yay! Haha this chapter's going to answer allÉ er, well _most_ of your questions for sure! You've gotta love the somewhat cliffhanger action. Haha. Thank you for the review!

_Lily Dwarf_ – Yay that you love it! Here's chapter 14!

_Tinask _– Awesome! Always great to get a new reader! Here's chapter 14, and thanks for reviewing!

_Ripper Carpet_ – Awesome, thanks for the review! Hope you like chpt 14!

_The-insufferable-know-it-all_ – Aren't they? I love them as a couple! Thanks for reviewing, here's chapter 14!

_Sugarhighloon_ – Yay! Awesome, thanks for reviewing!

_Carmel March_ – Thanks!! Hah, it's okay that you find Katie stupid. I find her stupid, and I invented her so that should tell you somethingÉ but no worries there, haha. And MalfoyÉ mmm he's so bad, but it makes him so good. Seriously, how could you not love him?? Thanks for reviewing and hope you like chpt 14!

_Milly M_ – Yay! Haha I know what you mean about the rowdy mob thing, you should've seen my horrible episode of procrastination on like the chapter before last. It was badÉ I'm trying to be quicker though. Sooo here's chapter 14!! Thanks for reviewing!

_Lizzie5555555_ – Exactly! ButÉ hmm, well you'll see in this chapter. Thanks for reviewing!!

Maybe the Malfoy affair turned me into a skeptic, but somehow I found it suspicious that by the time Harry and I had been dating for two months, absolutely nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary had happened. It wasn't that I expected something catastrophic to happen, and I _certainly_ didn't expect Harry to cheat. It was just Hermione had told me a short while after we got together that there had been actual bets on when Harry and I would end up together. So with that kind of speculation surrounding us, I was therefore sort of surprised to hear that nothing else was being said about us. Though I was well aware that this bordered on paranoid, I couldn't help but think that sooner or later, some rumor would start. But to my surprise and relief, nothing did. And everyday, I wondered to myself more and more why I didn't realize how crazy I was about Harry before. He was perfect for me, and I was starting to believe it when he said I was perfect for him. For the first time, I was starting to wonder if saying that I loved him was all that far-fetched.

Meanwhile, as all these thoughts floated around in my head, Hermione's and my brother's relationship was quickly turning into the most tumultuous one Hogwarts had ever seen. One day, they'd be so in love it was impossible to believe they'd ever been the bickering, feuding pair of friends they'd once been, and the nextÉ well, let's just say that it's lucky that ripping one's head off isn't literally possible. It was during one of these times that Hermione and I had a conversation about relationships on one particularly miserably cold February afternoon. I was reading when Hermione stormed into the common room in a rage, presumably having just fought with Ron.

"What's happened now," I asked her, putting down my book and sitting up on the couch.

"I shouldn't tell you, he's your brother and I don't want t put you in the middle," she answered curtly. She was probably right, but the amount of fury exuding from her was too much for me to ignore.

"Sit. Tell me. He _is_ my brother, so I've probably been just as pissed off with him at one point as you are now." She considered this for a moment before agreeing and sitting at the opposite end of the couch.

"It's justÉ he doesn't seem to know how to be in a relationship! Sometimes he can't seem to grasp being able to give me my own space and gets jealous over _everyone_ I talk to, and then there are days like today where he doesn't seem to want to speak to me if he's around anybody else. So I told him I can't take it anymore, that he has to choose, and he got very offended and said I do exactly the same. He said, you know, that I have some nerve to be criticizing him on anything, when I can scarcely seem to make time in my busy day to speak two words to him and yet I still get on being jealous of anyone and everyone. And then he said that maybe we don't understand each other, or at least I don't understand him, because it seems pretty clear that I don'tÉ" She trailed off as her voice cracked and tears welled up.

"It seems pretty clear to him that I don't really care about him that much. And I know I'm busy, but heaven knows I try. And he's busy too! He said that lately its seeming like I don't want anybody to know about us and it's justÉ that's notÉ I don't know what to do! I tried telling him that wasn't true but he was having none of it so I just ended up screaming back at him that he's a complete hypocrite and if he wants me to make time for him, he'd better be doing the same." As awful as I felt for Hermione, I had to say that this was something of a comical scene. I thought I'd never see the day that _Hermione Granger_ went to pieces over a boy. And I really didn't think that the boy any girl went to pieces over would ever be one of my brothers.

"Listen, ÔMione, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. Just go talk to him calmly, and explain that he has to listen to you rationally because what you have to say is important. Tell him how much you care, which you obviously do or you wouldn't be this worked up. He's just sort of insecure – basically, in Ron's eyes you were the one he never thought he could have so it's astounding that he's gotten what he wanted. Just make him see that you feel the same, and he'll stop, I promise." I continued in this same vein until Hermione seemed to brighten.

"So what about you and Harry?" She asked then, changing the subject. I explained to her the deliberations I was going through, finally springing on her my love thoughts.

"Do you really?!?" She shrieked.

"That's the thing, I don't know. I meanÉ I feel like when I'm with him, everything is alright, not matter what. And when I'm not with him in person, knowing that he's mine still makes me feel that way. I justÉ I feel totally comfortable around him, and so different than I felt about Michael or Dean or Draco. And it's good different." I finished quietly, blushing darker than my hair.

"You do! Think about it more and you'll have your answer," she responded matter-of-factly yet excitedly. We talked a bit more about other things, Hermione's words ringing in the back of my mind. Was it possible that I loved him? And she was right – the more I thought, the clearer the answer was. And that answer seemed to be a louder and stronger yes every time I thought of it. A few minutes later I realized though, that distracted as I now was, I had an essay to finish, so I headed to the library to do so.

I had been working for a few minutes when I heard an incredibly abrasive and intrusive sound – Malfoy's voice.

"Listen, Gin, do you have a minute?" I looked at him and scowled.

"For you? No." I tried to go back to my work, but he persisted.

"Listen, I just want a moment of your time," he said, snapping out of the fake sincerity he'd been using a moment before and back into something that more closely resembled his actual personality.

"Just to talk, that's all I'm asking." He insisted.

"Talk? Oh, you'd like to talk. Would you like to talk aboutÉ how you lied to me about Katie? Or maybe about how you weren't smart enough to _not get caught_ cheating. Or perhaps, you'd like to talk to me about how you're trying to make a mockery out of Harry and me? Are any of those topics on your list?" I asked with matching fake sincerity. I was quite impressed with myself – usually I don't ever come up with anything clever to say when I'm angry until several minutes too late.

"JustÉ listen. That's all I'm asking." He said insistently. Perhaps out of some Freudian need for closure, or, more likely, out of good mood-based distraction, I somehow grumbled out fine. However, it turned out that sitting at my table to talk to me wasn't quite what he had in mind. Grabbing me lightly by the arm, he guided me to a more open section of the library, sort of the general common area. This was suspicious, but I tried not to think much of it.

"So what I wanted to say is," he began, and then did something I was not prepared for. In one swift movement, he brushed a strand of hair out of my face and slid both his hands around my waist.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I asked, irately.

"What I wanted to say is, I don't think you're quite over me yet." I gaped at him in open-mouthed awe, until I found the words. Or rather, action. My hand flew up from where it had been at my side and slapped Malfoy across the face, leaving an angry red mark. His eyes narrowed for a brief second, but he seemed almost happy, as if his intent had been to get a rise out of me.

"Still that same feisty spirit, I see. Listen, Ginny, I know I made a small error in our relationship but –

"Small error? Sleeping with somebody else is not a small error! That, Draco, is fucking up and badly!

"I never said I slept with her. At least not while we were dating." I rolled my eyes.

"More than I need to know, though I doubt the validity of the first half of that statement in the first place." His lips quirked as if to smirk, and I thought to slap him again, but thought better of it. His arms were no longer around me, but we were standing closer than suited my personal comfort.

"Look, I know that I made a mistake, but I want to try it again. I'm really, really sorry and I'm just horrified that I've hurt you as I have. I'd love it if you could give me a second chance.

"Stop! Stop this schizophrenic act. Either cut the condescension or get out of my face, it's really quite simple. But I have some things to say. First off, what's happened to your precious little tart friend? Has she grown tired of you, or have you moved on to newer and _easier_ things? Secondly, what on earth has you convinced I'm still interested?" He raised his eyebrows as if amused. I was getting distinctly uncomfortable by this point, but I was determined not to let Draco know this.

"Watch who you're calling easy, it's you I'm trying to move on to, darling. But as for your question, Katie and I decided that sex isn't really enough of a basis for a relationship. Though it was quite good." This, though I _knew_ it was said only to get a rise out of me, was too much. My face contorted, as I not so politely informed Draco that I absolutely didn't need to know this.

"Sorry. That was uncalled for, I know. You're just so easy toÉ _tease_" He continued, stepping even closer to me. My heart started racing, but unlike so many times before, this wasn't out of happiness to be near somebody I had feelings for, but out of fear. Nothing good could come of this, and I knew it. He wrapped his arms back around me, pulling me directly next to him.

"Let me try once more to convince you," he whispered seductively, before kissing me. I couldn't help it – my brain was screaming to push him off and to run screaming, but I had frozen. They say that all humans have a flight or fight response to bad situations, but in this case I had neither.

Oh no, my response was something altogether more horrifying. It was give in. it was as if my mind was no longer my own, and I reciprocated the passionate kiss. It wasn't until I realized that I'd been pushed against a wall that alarm bells began to sound in my mind. Cohesive thought starting coming much too slowly for my own liking, what must this look like? Panic rose, but right before I could end this horrible scene the worst possible thing happened.

As he moved us so that it appeared as though I'd initiated all this (that is to say, he was now leaning against a wall), I heard a voice say: "Well, would you look at that. Who's the slut now, Weasley?" and the click of a camera. Finally breaking away from Draco, I turned in absolute mortification and horror to see Katie Manning herself standing staring at both of us, holding a camera.

"This is going to be one interesting photo. I wonder who gets it first? The other Weasels? Or maybe the mudblood friend? Wait. I know. Scarhead. That would be best, wouldn't it Draco?" She asked, a mix of simpering and absolutely evil. Draco kissed her possibly _more_ explicitly than he'd just done to me – something I figured would've been difficult if I hadn't seen it – and smirked at me.

"Well. Looks as though I was right. Do yourself a favor, Ginny darling, and make sure you're quite over me before you move on. And please, think twice before crossing me again." The two laughed horribly while I began to shake. Whether out of fury, fear, or generally upset-ness I couldn't say, but I knew that this would be the beginning of something very, _very_ bad.


	15. When It All Comes Crumbling Down

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter ≠ mine. The end.

**Author's Note:** Hmm, not too terribly much to say about this chapter except that it's going to be very interesting, a little darker than most of the rest, and hopefully you'll like it! As a sort of progress report, there are probably two chapters until the end, so thanks to everybody that's been reading and reviewing, you guys are awesome. Uhh, I think that's it, so happy reading! **EDIT:** So I promised quickly, but uh… well, our play went into hell week (where you put everything together), then I was out of town, then sick, and then choir tour. So life has been er, crazy, lately, but I promise I'll be good about updating from now on.

**Review Responses:**

_Anaid_ – Haha! Well, I'm glad at least to know that you liked it enough to be frustrated by the cliffhanger. I'll tell you now, because it doesn't ruin much to know – it is a Harry/Ginny fic. Alright, I promise no cliffhangers for a while and here's chapter 15! Thanks for reviewing!

_BJH_ – Wow, thank you then! Glad you liked it, and here's chapter 15!

_Kimberley-Grace_ – The thing is, it's not something I'm trying to do – like, I'm not using a thesaurus. I'll try to cut back on it, though, I just re-read the last chapter and it does sound a little stuffy in places. But I'm really glad you like it and very cool that you can actually picture well what's going on. Thanks for your review and here's chpt 15!

_The-insufferable-know-it-all_ – I know! Basically, I found myself wishing that I could make her do something else but the direction I want to go in with the plot didn't work with her reacting against what was happening. You'll see what'll happen with the photo! Also, I'm rather glad that you can't stand Katie. I frankly hate her, she's basically there to be an annoying-as-hell filler character. So the fact that you hate her means that she's doing her job! Haha. Thanks for reviewing!

_Carmel March _ - Unfortunately, yes it did just happen! Haha, but you're going to see what _will_ happen in response to it. The photographic evidence part though, well – lets just say I wouldn't want to be Ginny right about now. But I'm glad you liked it and thanks for reviewing! Here's chapter 15!

_Vietgurl10607_ – Haha! Don't worry, she didn't necessarily enjoy it, more like she was just so stunned that she didn't know what to do. And thanks so much, I'm glad you like it! ::Looks happily at brownies:: Is this good enough for soon (hehe)? Here's chapter 15!

_Milly M_ – Ooh, we'll see. But if they break up, I get first dibs on Harry. Hmm, but you know what though, I could settle (haha yeah, _settle_… anyway) for Draco. We'll have to work out those details later, haha. "That, my dear, is evil. i love it!" ß This, by the way, cracked me up. Thanks so much for reviewing!

_Lizzie5555555_ – Well, you've got to consider who it is we're talking about. Frankly, I'm all for the theory that Draco really isn't that evil, but he tends to be more fun that way and he works a lot better for my story as an asshole. But we'll see how it turns out!

_Hp-girl4eva_ – It'd be so much better for her if she could've known it was a trap, but, c'est la vie. You'll have to wait and see what's going to happen to her now, haha. But thanks so much for the review, glad you liked it! Here's chpt 15!

My worst fears weren't confirmed until Sunday morning at breakfast. I woke up later than most of the house, having been awake worrying until about two fifteen. Dressing in a white sweater and jeans and putting my hair in a ponytail, I did my best to conceal my nerves and look casual. When I walked into the Great Hall though, my heart sank. From the door, I could see Katie talking to Harry, acting disgustingly sweet and handing him a plain manila envelope. For the second time that weekend, I was absolutely transfixed to the spot. This time, though, I was stuck watching the train wreck my own life was about to become. After what felt like ages but probably only was twenty seconds, Harry looked up and his eyes met mine. Slowly, but very deliberately, he rose from the table and walked up to me. Once he'd gotten within two feet of me, I couldn't look at him. Even from thirty feet away a second ago, I'd seen a look that was such a mix of intense anger and incredible hurt that I knew I couldn't handle it to look at him, but he was having none of it. Raising my chin so my eyes met his, he removed the picture from its envelope with a shaking hand. He let me get a good look at it for a minute before he spoke.

"What the fuck is this supposed to mean, Ginny?" I tried to speak, but no sound came out. They say a picture tells a thousand words, but this one was saying so, so much more than that. There was _nothing_ left to the imagination, and was so altogether explicit that I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing. That is, until I saw my own face.

"I-" I choked out one syllable before Harry cut me off. Just as well, since I had nothing else to say.

"You know what, no. Don't try to explain yourself, because I'm not sure that I want to hear it. I don't want to believe that you did this, but what else am I supposed to go by? I cannot even believe you," the more he talked, the angrier he got until I was genuinely frightened by the look in his eyes. I tried desperately to keep my composure, but as I studied his face, that was getting harder and harder. That same face I'd looked at a million times and seen every possible contortion of now looked unfamiliar, so filled with rage and hurt – and all because of **me** – that I couldn't stand to look at him anymore. This, however, was something Harry was having none of. Much less gently than before, but not roughly enough so as to hurt me, he turned my face to meet his again.

"I'm not finished. I don't want to know what you were thinking when this disgusting display of you being a whore was created, but I'll tell you what I'm thinking now. I used to look at you and see somebody I loved, but now? I'm seeing a beautiful and wonderful façade covering the face of a conniving bitch." I watched him soundlessly for a minute before the floodgates opened as I felt my heart shatter into pieces.

I knew most of Hogwarts had just seen the display, but it wasn't like one of those muggle movies where everybody silently watches the train wreck in silent awe. Life around me seem to buzz on as normal, despite the inordinate amount of people facing in my general direction.

Neither able nor willing to sit down at Gryffindor table as if nothing had happened, I simply left the Great Hall, trying to make my way back to the tower so I could hide out there for the rest of my natural life. It was just my luck, however, that Harry seemed to have had that same idea. Just as he was heading through the portrait hole he saw me, and my heart sank that much more to see that it appeared as if he'd been crying too. How on earth did I do this to somebody that I cared about so much? What happened to me? Though part of my brain continued to insist that it wasn't my fault, the part that watched Harry look at me through narrowed eyes and a hardened heart could only scream "why didn't you do anything?" For a minute we watched each other in silence, knowing without words exactly what the other was thinking, before he went in without saying a word.

The painfully awkward silence between us spread through the day, leaked into the rest of the week, and continued to blanket the weeks ahead. By two weeks later I'd lost count of the amount of times I'd passed by Harry sharing only an icy look, if that. Hermione, meanwhile, also wasn't speaking to me. Ron, meanwhile, was put in a very awkward position between his best friend and sister. However, the fact that Malfoy was involved had tipped the scales in Harry's favor, and so Ron was extremely angry at me as well, almost more-so than either Hermione or Harry.

I had gone back to having conversations, if somewhat superficial ones with my friends in my year, but the rest of Gryffindor wasn't re-warming to me. The common consensus seemed to be that I was a traitor to Harry, and therefore to the house. Which, painful as it was to admit, didn't seem altogether unfair to hear. It seemed stupid that something so small could have a large effect, and at times that fact infuriated me. Mostly though, it didn't matter. It was still what I'd done to my friend, my brother, and above all to Harry that ate away at me. I felt as if I were being contained by a thin glass shell, and I wasn't sure how much more I could take before that shell would crack.

In the midst of all this, schoolwork was picking up in a frightening way. Just because we were suddenly four months away instead of an entire year, teachers seemed to believe that the more they could do to prepare us for O.W.L.s the better. Better for them, maybe. Essays, projects, and exams aren't exactly my cup of tea.

Another week and a half later, after a particularly difficult (and boring) History of Magic essay, I was ready just to go to bed without talking to anybody when I ran into Harry in the common room. Apparently, he'd been down there working too, I just hadn't noticed. Immediately my heart started to race, and my throat dried up, but I knew I had to take this opportunity to say something, or I probably never would. He had started walking up the stairs before I got the nerve to speak.

"Harry!" He turned to look at me, the same hard look in his eyes I'd seen every time I'd looked at them for the past month, nearly. I opened my mouth to speak when he interrupted me again.

"Don't. Don't talk to me. There's nothing you can say, so don't waste your precious time." And with that he walked away. He'd done it – my fragile little shell had cracked, and for the first time since everything had happened, I began to cry. Not a delicate, dainty crying, but sobbing. Everything was so unfair and so awful, and it made it ten times worse that it was my fault. I heard voices at the top of the stairs, but I was too upset and tired to care. I didn't even notice that someone had walked down the stairs and across the room until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"It sucks, doesn't it?" said Ron's voice softly. I was so shocked to see my brother's face that I abruptly stopped crying.

"I'm sorry," I choked out. "I didn't mean to… I never meant for…" everything I'd tried so hard and failed to say came spilling out of my mouth at once as I tried desperately to make Ron speak to me again. He quieted me, smoothing down my hair and acting every inch the older brother. Because we were so close in age, Ron had always had a brotherly role in my life but his attitude was more that of a friend to whom I happened to be related. In this instant, however, I felt as though I were six and Ron was twenty-five. He only said "I know," and let me continue to cry, just sitting with me quietly. That was all it took – I knew I had my brother back on my side, and for now, that would be enough.


	16. Without You

**Disclaimer:** Clearly by now we know that I don't own Harry Potter. This disclaimer is to tell you that I also don't own the song "Without You," from which this title takes it's name. The song is from Jonathan Larson's _RENT._

**Author's Note**: First things first: oh my God, guys, I totally never expected this to be a story that got 100 reviews, so thank you all so much for that. Moving along, you've made it almost to the end. This chapter I'm going to say up front will be a little shorter because I want to try something new with it. Given that I'm trying something new, if you like it, tell me, and if you hate it, tell me. And I'm **very** sorry that this has taken so long, things have just been crazy for FOREVER now, I had finals and then a show and then auditions and then… craziness. But I'm going to try to get super super good about getting the chapter after this one out, okay?

**Author's Note (reprise):** Okay, I lied. I changed my mind and decided to elaborate on how this chapter's going to work, it's going to change points of view between pieces of song lyrics, starting with Ginny's. Oh, and as an added bonus this _is_ a very long chapter.

**Review Responses:**

_AvId PiAnIsT:_ Thanks. Yeah, I kept it in mind in this chapter – thanks for the note on it, by the way, I like getting constructive criticism. Thanks for reviewing, and hope you like the next chpt!

_Hpgirl4eva_: Haha yay! Well, not that you won't be able to cope, but that you like it enough to not be able to cope with the ending:0). Yay, thanks for the review!

_Steve_: It's interesting that you take that perspective, because honestly it's opposite the one I was expecting. That being said, however, it is understandable. And, if I've made you feel strongly about a character either way I'm happy. More to the point, I take it to mean that you liked the chapter? Which is also good, haha. Thanks for reviewing!

_The-insufferable-know-it-all_: Don't you just love him though? Thanks so much for the review!

_Belle of the Known Galaxy_: Yeah, I know she messed up but personally I feel bad for her. Granted, I'm the one that wrote it but shh, we'll ignore that for now, haha. I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for reviewing and here's chapter 16.

_Lizzie5555555_: Yeah, in this scene originally it was going to be Hermione who came down to find Ginny, but I wanted a cute brother-sister moment and I felt like I haven't dealt enough with Ron yet. So I'm glad you liked it! Here's chapter 16!

_Carmel March_: Aww, I know! But yeah, I didn't want him to just forgive her like that, you know? Anyway, I'm glad you loved it, and here's chapter 16!

_Ayse_: Hahaha I loved your review, hon. Thank you! It's not that I was keeping it from you on purpose, I just didn't mention it. They will get back together soonish, I swear. Well, it's two chapters from the end so they have too. I'll update as soon as I can (aka after finals, hahaha). And I'm tres amused about the English teacher comment… thanks for the review, girlie 3 ya!

_Estrella Morena_: Haha, but the thing is _I _get Harry if it doesn't work out between him and Ginny, ;0). As for the updating, it's not so much a procrastination thing as I just had finals and am in the middle of tech week for a show and am about to go into tech week for another show right after that… basically it all boils down to I've been swamped. But I do agree about procrastination, it's so easy… why is that? It's really quite annoying sometimes. Anyway, thanks for your review! Here's chapter 16.

_Without You_

_The ground thaws_

_The rain falls_

_The grass grows_

_Without You_

_The seeds root_

_The flowers bloom_

_The children play_

_The stars gleam_

_The eagles fly_

_Without you_

_The earth turns_

_The Sun burns_

_But I die_

_Without you_

Winter moved sluggishly into spring, and though the miserable weather didn't change much, just substituting snow for rain, things generally went back to normal. Life, school, friends; essentially, it all fell back into pattern. Hermione and I went back to being best friends, I was no longer Gryffindor public enemy number two (second only to Draco himself, who'd probably always take the number one spot), and even Harry and I were speaking again. Speaking, not having real conversations or being friends or back how we were, but for now I would take meaningless discussions of Quidditch or classes over a cold, detached stare. It wasn't, though, like I couldn't read between the lines of our conversations. There were a thousand words that neither of us was brave enough to say, and for me at least, twice that many apologies that would never escape my lips. Every time I talked to him it took every ounce of self-restraint not to let everything I was thinking jumble in a disorderly way through my mouth, but the one time I actually had the opportunity, the courage disappeared. It seemed that this stilted, half-friendship was as good as it was going to get. It was something I'd have to get used to. Sure, it would happen, but it would always feel awkward, like walking in shoes of two different sizes.

_Without you_

_The breeze warms_

_The girl smiles_

_The cloud moves_

_Without you_

_The tides change_

_The boys run_

_The oceans crash_

_The crowd roars_

_The days soar_

_The babies cry_

_Without you_

"You don't have to stay mad at her forever," Ron had said one day. I hadn't really been expecting it. Understandably, Ron hadn't wanted to say anything through the whole Ginny thing, so while I knew exactly who and what he was talking about it was still strange to hear him say that.

"Oh? And just what am I supposed to do? Say it's alright that she betrayed me, did the one thing that could almost… almost…" I didn't even know what I wanted to say, all I knew was that the feeling of rage and overwhelming _hurt_ that had coursed through me when I'd seen that picture wouldn't be something I'd forget all that soon. It was all I could do to yell incoherently at Ron, though I knew it wasn't his fault. Ginny and I had put him in an awkward place; she was his sister, I was his best friend, and where he sat right now took more resolve than I really gave him credit for.

The phrase echoed through my mind in this particular moment as I stared at a picture of me and Ginny. It couldn't've been taken much before the now infamous one of her and Malfoy. I looked into her eyes, studied the face that I thought I knew so well – there wasn't any sign of what was about to happen, so what could've gone wrong? Damn. It was question I'd asked myself too many times already, and I didn't want to waste any time on it anymore. We'd moved on with our lives, or so it seemed. _I'd_ moved on, moved past bitterness and hurt, moved past that feeling that there was something irrevocably missing since the day I'd told her I couldn't even look at her anymore. That was a lie, but I couldn't help it. A part of me wanted so much to believe that what'd had happened wasn't her fault, but a bigger part of me just said it was setting myself up for disappointment. So I moved on. To friends, to Quidditch, to school, to life. To anything, and anyone, but her.

_The world revives_

_Colors renew_

_But I know blue_

_Only blue_

_Lonely blue_

_Within me, blue_

_Without you_

As these things often are, a sudden change in my schedule actually provided a complete blessing in disguise. Teachers started piling on the work again, Quidditch picked up immeasurably, and various other things here and there kept me feeling as though I never had a free moment. Being busy though, has always suited me. That aside, it kept my mind off… well _other_ things. As hard as I tried, I couldn't avoid the pang I felt when I'd see Harry talking to a pretty girl with curly dark blonde hair who I knew to be a Ravenclaw with increasing frequency. And for as hard as I tried, I couldn't push thoughts of him out of my mind. But less sleep and more work were taking care of that; they were taking care of most thoughts, mind you, but less painful memories of Harry was something I could take.

_Without you_

_The hand gropes_

_The ear hears_

_The pulse beats_

"I don't understand, why don't you just go out with her, mate? She's one of the prettiest girls in our year and she's made it pretty clear she wants you, Harry." Said Dean, re-reading the note I'd gotten at breakfast from Clara Menzelle.

"How is it you always end up with the hottest girls in our year, mate?" Chimed in Seamus.

"I'm not with her, Seamus, and I don't want to be." I snapped irritably.

"Why not though, mate?" Asked Neville. Ron shot me a look that said that if I answered this question the wrong way the words could be my last, so I gave Neville a moody "Just because" and left it at that. A few more minutes of mindless conversation passed as I considered what it was about this that made me so irritable. They say that the best way to move on is to find someone new. Well, if that was true an opportunity had fallen in my lap, quite literally. Clara had tripped walking to the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall about a week ago, and landed in my lap. We'd been talking since then, and then she sent me this note asking me out. But besides for the fact that I didn't have feelings for her, I just couldn't handle the thought of me with someone who wasn't Ginny yet.

For all I'd told myself about not thinking about Ginny, it seemed that I couldn't push her out of my mind. _"I've grown accustomed to her face,_" I thought. It was bittersweet irony – this short lyric from a favorite muggle movie of Ginny's mum summed up my entire thought process. Everything seemed to lead back to her, and yet we couldn't move past this horrible, strained relationship full of superficial conversation and too-meaningful looks and too painful memories.

"Time for Quidditch, Harry," said Ron, interrupting my train of thought. The weather outside looked absolutely awful; sheets of slate gray rain fell from charcoal clouds, as the wind caused the trees practically to double on themselves.

_Without you_

_The eyes gaze_

_The legs walk_

_The lungs breathe_

By the time I had gotten to the Quidditch pitch I was already more or less soaked through. I'd been tired before practice, and given the freezing rain and wind, it didn't look like it'd be a light practice either. Entering the dressing room I attempted to towel-dry my hair enough to put it into a ponytail, and I went to put on my robes when I saw a note pinned to the mirror.

"Practice cancelled. Soddy weather, plus I've got a huge History of Magic test tomorrow.

Adam"

It was moments like this that I loved him. Quiet and unassuming, nobody had known about Adam's Quidditch talents until this fall, when we all learned he was to be our new captain. Apparently he'd never played in the house league because he'd played for a semi-professional summer league, but this year his coach told him it'd be a good idea to get at least one year of school Quidditch under his belt. He was a tough captain, but sometimes, on occasions like this, would let us out. I changed back and had started making my way through the pouring rain when I ran into Harry and Ron.

"Practice is cancelled," I remarked flippantly, or at least what I thought was flippantly. Ron looked exuberant at not having to stand around in this weather, and started heading for the castle.

"Coming Harry?" he called over his shoulder.

"Just a sec," replied Harry, and I felt my heart lurch. I hated that feeling, hated that my throat tightened at that my eyes watered just standing there watching him. Hated that I couldn't tear my eyes away from his, and hated even more that his eyes wouldn't meet mine. I hated how weak I felt standing there, how I suddenly didn't know if I'd be able to keep the cool façade I'd been projecting for so long. Mostly though, I hated that I couldn't just move on, that I felt all this and that there was nothing I could to do change it.

_The mind churns_

_The heart yearns_

_The tears dry_

_Without you_

Once Ginny told us practice was cancelled, Ron turned for the castle. I'd planned to go with him, but something about her made me stop. Something about the look in her eyes was different. The same spark that'd always been there was still present, but it was clouded over by a profound tiredness and sadness I hadn't seen before. I couldn't meet her gaze, only when she would look away from me could I dare to look at her again. I was rooted to the spot, and yet at the same time I could barely contain my compulsion to go over next to her. As the rain continued to pour down, I realized that something had to be said. Trouble was, I couldn't figure out what. We awkwardly stared each other down for another minute before finally, blissfully, she broke the science.

"Is there a reason we're standing in the freezing rain saying nothing?" Her tone was light, but neither of us was stupid enough to believe it was a joke. Taking a deep, shaky breath, I knew I had to finally say something of substance.

"We… need to talk." I offered weakly.

"You don't say," she drawled. The flat sarcasm in her voice was thick, as our eyes happened to meet, I realized that she couldn't've said anything more fitting if she'd tried.

_Life goes on_

_But I'm gone_

'_Cause I die_

_Without you_

The original words had made it out, but now we were locked in a stare-down to see who would speak first. My heart raced and I fought to keep from shaking as I watched him rumple his hair.

"Harry, I…" I started. My voice caught pronouncing his name.

"Why?" I flinched as if he'd hit me. The question seemed ambiguous, but I knew exactly what he meant, and I didn't have an answer.

"I didn't… I mean… I didn't mean… I don't know what to tell you."

"What were you thinking? How could you have fallen for his shit, after what happened? What reason in the world do you have for this?" He continued to talk, asking questions without pausing for me to answer, but after a while I stopped hearing him. My head was spinning, and I was so lost in my own thought it took me a second to realize he'd stopped talking.

"Look, Harry, you don't have to believe my version of what happened. You don't have to believe me, you don't have to like _me_ for it, but you have to…" my voice cracked, but I knew if I stopped now I'd never finish talking. "You have to believe I wouldn't ever do anything on purpose to hurt you. More than anything I wish I could take back what I did, but I can't. And okay, I should have done something. But… it's not all my fault." I said weakly, my throat tightening.

"I should have done something, but I just… I couldn't… I didn't want to… Harry I don't even know what to tell you except I'm sorry. Just… I'm so, so sorry." I _hated_ more than anything to cry in front of him, but as tears started sliding down my cheeks I couldn't help it. I'd ruined everything. I'd totally smeared my own reputation by acting like a foolish little girl and I'd hurt my friends in the process. But more than anything I'd hurt Harry. When we'd gotten together Ron made him swear never to break my heart. He hadn't, I'd done it to myself in hurting him. As I cried silently, trying desperately to get a hold on myself, he stood stonily, an unreadable expression on his face, not speaking and not moving. Taking gasping, awkward breaths to calm myself, I moved a little closer to him.

"There's only one thing I'm asking you to believe, that I'm sorry and that… that I love you." I whispered. I couldn't stand to watch him anymore, so I turned to go, trying not to believe that nothing would _ever_ be the same.

_Without you_

"I love you," she whispered. The words were a slap in the face, but not in a bad way. What was I doing? My mind raced, and all at once it was very clear that I did, in fact, believe her, and I knew I couldn't let her walk away. I had my fair share of apologies to make as well.

_Without you_

"Ginny wait!" I heard Harry's voice ring out after me. Almost before I realized it I had turned back to face him. I gazed at him through the now subsiding rain, waiting for him to speak again. He came up to me, and I about jumped out of my skin when I felt his hand grab mine.

"Listen, I've been a royal prat and there's nothing I can say that will make it up to you. But I should've believed you, and I… Merlin, Ginny, I've been stupid. I'm just sorry."

"For what? What have you done? I'm the one who went and ruined everything."

"For what? Not believing you, but more importantly for not even trying to. For not listening to you, letting myself be convinced of way too much, and for…" he trailed off.

"And for?"

"Er, listening to Malfoy." As I heard Harry say this a flash of anger swept through me but in an instant it was gone, and all I could feel was relief.

"So we've had a small setback, but… Ginny, I want to be with you. I love you," he said sincerely, looking me square on for the first time in I couldn't remember how long.

A smile spread across my face as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Damn you, Harry Potter," I muttered.

"What for?" He asked indignantly.

"You've gone and made me cry again, you great prat," I joked, sniffling. He pulled away from me.

"Have I? Well let's see what I can do to fix that." He kissed me softly, instantly erasing all the previous months' drama and saying everything we'd yet to cover.

"Right then," he said, breaking away. "What do you suppose we somewhere it's actually dry?" He asked, tugging me in the direction of the castle. And as we plodded through the mud, I knew that things would in fact be different. It just wouldn't be the awful, awkward different I'd envisioned. And there was nothing I didn't like about that.


	17. Happily Ever After?

**Disclaimer:** The only thing I own is the story; all characters, locations, etc. are property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Oh. There's a clip of a song in the end, it's from Elton John and Tim Rice's _Aida_.

**Author's Note:** Well, we've made it to the end. I was looking over it, and it's been a long time since I started this story, and I just wanted to say thank you to all those that have read it all the way through and reviewed. Also to apologize for the weird formatting thing from the last chapter that no matter what I did to it I couldn't seem to fix, hopefully this chapter won't have that problem. You guys are the best, so I hope that you like this last chapter and have enjoyed reading this story as much as I've liked writing it. Before I just let you read, I should have a new story coming out soon, a Hermione/Draco story that's as of yet untitled. A little teaser of sorts. For those of you who like Malfoy but not the way I've written him, you get to see a completely different one. That was my little plug. Okay. Now you can read, I swear.

**Review Responses**:

_Amber L. Potter_ : Yay! Glad you liked it.

_Vanessa-Black and Zabini_ : Thank you! And hey, a short review is still a review, so I'm not complaining, haha. Here's chapter 17!

_Anamika29_: Augh! You have no idea how long I spent trying to fix that stupid thing, but it wouldn't go away. So sorry about that, I'm sure it made it annoying to read. Nonetheless I'm so glad you liked it, and thanks for the review!

_The Iviest_: Thanks! Hope you read the rest and like that as well. Here's the last chapter!

_Ayse_: I've been busy! Even though I er, said this would be a fast chapter. Again, sorry I couldn't come to your show but I'm sure it was AWESOME and yes. Um, in that case come see _42nd Street_. Haha. Shameless self-promotion. But yes, I'm sure you were great, and here's the chapter and now you can stop pestering me! At least for a while, haha. Love ya babe.

Soaking wet, ecstatic, and slightly nervous, I made my way back to Gryffindor tower at Harry's side. Remarkably, it seemed almost as if no time had passed. Our conversation flowed easily, the same teasing but deeply caring banter we'd always had had come rushing back. It wasn't entirely concealed that we'd had a... how shall I put it, relationship hiccup, however. Any topic concerning the past several months of our non-relationship, Slytherin, Malfoy, or even the library caused an awkward pause, but it was all I could to do to ignore it and hope that eventually the issue would resolve itself. We made it inside the castle almost before I realized it, and were halfway to the Gryffindor portrait hole before something abruptly pulled me out of my reverie. Almost as if he'd known we were coming, Malfoy was perched "coincidentally" on a stone bench at the end of the hallway. Harry stiffened beside me and his pace slowed. It was this kind of a moment I'd been dreading in my head, but hadn't actually thought anything like it would actually happen.

A moment of inaction passed quickly, punctuated only by two extremely obnoxious fourth years running past Harry, Malfoy and I and giggling obnoxiously. I knew exactly what the provocation of their laughter had been, and moreover I knew full well what they were about to go tell their little friends. Since when, I wondered angrily, had my life been the stuff of public discussion? But in that moment, the idea hit me. I couldn't expect Harry to rescue me from this situation, it wouldn't be fair of me to and in any case I knew I didn't exactly deserve it. There'd be nothing heart-wrenchingly awkward about this moment in the first place if it weren't for me. Standing on my tiptoes, I whispered, "follow me" in the most confident way I knew how in Harry's ear. Grabbing his hand, I started to walk playfully but purposefully in Malfoy's direction, casting flirty glances over my shoulder at Harry. We'd just passed him when predictably the blonde-haired Slytherin flashed his trademark smirk and opened his mouth to make a comment.

"Well, if it isn't Gryffindor's wondercouple reunited. How sweet. Do yourself and him a favor, Red, don't compare him too much to me," he drawled, turning to go.

"What did you say?" I called, business-like.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Ginny?" Hissed Harry, clearly growing very angry. My stomach gave a lurch at the thought of my spur-of-the-moment plan failing, but it was too late to go back.

"Don't compare him to me too much, darling," replied Malfoy with a devilish smile.

"Malfoy, I'm only going to make one comparison. As good as you are at ruining people, spreading misery wherever you go, and being a complete and utter prick asshole, _that's_ how incredibly gifted Harry is at being not only the best boyfriend I've ever had, but also one of the best people I've ever known." Malfoy appeared not to have a response to that at the ready, so I used the time to say something else as some more unsaid feelings bubbled to the surface in a surge of equal parts hatred and courage.

"I made a mistake, a huge one. But you did too. Yours, however, was to believe for one second that I could fall for your bullshit, that I would believe one word you said, that that you honestly had the power to destroy me. _Trust me_, you picked the wrong girl for that. So you can rot in hell, honestly, for all I care." It took an exorbitant amount of energy not to start shaking from adrenaline; I've never been shy, but that was one of the boldest things I'd said in my life. There was one thing left for me to do. I pulled Harry to me, kissing him lightly. For a second it was a bit like trying to kiss a statue, but fortunately he softened, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me back in a way I'd _sorely_ missed since our breakup.

I've never been weak in the knees before. It was a sensation I'd heard about, but didn't altogether understand. But when my legs seemed unable to keep me up and Harry's arms tightened around my back, I understood the feeling and liked it. A lot. When we finally pulled away, Malfoy was walking away, shaking his head in disgust. And there seemed nothing I could do but laugh. Everything I'd bottled up for months without saying had come out; five hundred pounds of weight had been lifted off my shoulders in one afternoon.

"What was that for?" Asked Harry, sounding amused by with a serious look in his eyes. Seeing him that way sobered me.

"Two things. The second little speech was for my own personal satisfaction. But largely? I couldn't stand the idea of his shadow always hanging over our relationship, of doubt always being in the back of your mind, of Malfoy being able to think that he's gotten to us. And more than anything, I couldn't stand the thought of you doubting for one second that I love you. It's impossible for me to ever say how sorry I am, but it's even more impossible for me to say how glad I am that we… that you…" my words were failing me, and I was dangerously close to my third waterworks moment of the evening.

"I know. You're quite a girl, miss Ginny Weasley. You know, a few months ago, if someone had told me that I'd fall this much in love with one of my closest friends, I would've laughed in their face. It's a little unbelievable. But I like it."

"Maybe it is. And you're not so bad yourself, Harry James Potter." I hugged him tightly, closing my eyes and relaxing entirely. And with that, we walked back to Gryffindor tower, ready at last to put this behind us.

Things weren't back to normal. They wouldn't ever be. But there could be a new sort of normal. Things _certainly_ wouldn't ever be perfect. But who really wants perfect anyway? I certainly didn't. Just to be us, and to be us together, was good enough for me.

_We all lead such elaborate lives _

_Wild ambitions in our sights _

_How an affair of the heart survives _

_Days apart and hurried nights _

_Seems quite unbelievable to me _

_I don't want to live like that _

_Seems quite unbelievable to me _

_I don't want to love like that _

_I just want our time to be _

_Slower and gentler, wiser, free_


End file.
